Black Rises 2: Saving Xmas
by ForevermoreAlizabeth
Summary: Sequel to Black Rises: Christmas time is drawing near, and the gang is in a flurry of activity as they try to help North prepare for the massive holiday. All of the holiday spirit gets interrupted, though, as Pitch rises again...but this time, he has done something truley horrible, something that could potentially leave the Guardians helpless, the children in more danger than ever
1. Chapter 1

_I'm back, and so is everyone else! I'd like to thank all of you supporting this sequel by reading and reviewing, love you all 3_

_-A Cave-_

The shadows were still there. So was the darkness. But something had changed within the dark prison, eminating from the walls, causing a strangely...cautious motion from the shadows. Everything seemed to be pausing, waiting, pulsating slowly. Where once the shadows and nightmares darted about, they now stood still, like soldiers about to go to war. They were tame. They were under control.

They had never been more dangerous. From a dark, cavernous opening, a being swooped into the room, the shadows receeding back quickly as if burned by light, clinging to the walls as the nightmares half-dissapeared, everything keeping a distance from the man who quickly made his way to the center of the room. The only noise to be heard once he stopped was the subtle swoosh of his robe as an arm reached out, long, bony, grey fingers brushing over the centerpiece in the small, black cave.

The rock looked both ordinary and extraordinairy, jutting up from the ground jaggedly, ending in a massive, glittering point, as the bottom of the cave had been stabbed from below and the kife still stood there, the lumpy, curved edges of the stone shining as if never touched by natures elements, smooth and shining like the moon.

The blackness of the rock reminded the man with dark grey skin and pure black hair of two things: Shadows. And Black. His eyes trained on the marvel as if reading a hidden text, scanning it as if waiting for something to pop out. His eyes darted to and froe, breathing quickening as he placed his other hand on the stone, leaning into it as he slowly, slowly placed the side of his face to it, listening...listening...

He had spent 8 months. 8 long months, preparing for this day. The idea had hit him hard after being uncerimoniously thrown into this room by his fears, splayed below the stone that he now stood so eagerly near. He could remember it clearly, as if it were yesterday: Falling, the nightmares and fears suddenly springing back as if cut, as if...afraid. Of this stone, yes. Afraid of it, but why?

And then he had looked closer, and upon further inspection, had found two names carved into the very top of the stone. Pitch. Black. His eyes had widened as he felt a power surge within him upon first touching the stone, the blood in his veins growing white-hot but not painful, not painful at all...no, in fact it quite excited him, enthralled him as he stumbled back from it, looking at his palms and seeing nothing new, but feeling, _feeling_ powerful.

The nightmares that had once haunted him now feared him, quivering in his gaze and directly following any and all commands. He was powerful. He could feel it. The fears he raised were like nothing he'd ever made before, pure evil, nothing even showing a thread of joy, happiness, hope. Pure, unadulterated fear.

An an idea twisted into his mind, wrapping itself slowly around and whispering details into his mind's ear until it screamed loud and strong. His revenge, laid out in front of him. Revenge on not just the world for forgetting him. On the Guardians...and, by consequence, on her. Because he knew, deep in his blackened heart, that no matter how strong he was, he could never defeat the Guardians with her power rivalling his.

That power that had nearly destroyed him. That had taken control of his entire army. No matter how _powerful_ he was, he did not have the special control that she held, he did not have the shadows at his whim by anything other than the intimidation of power. This power, he felt, was a stored energy, like a knitted-up ball of electricity. But, in order to use this power, in order to fully release it, he needed an outlet. A weapon to channel this amazing power into.

He needed _her control._ To extract it from her being. The plan took months of non-stop details, planning, and constant visits to the stone, seeping all of the power it would give him until he felt he had reached his peak, his ultimate, unstoppable form. Today, something was different. Today, it was all massed into what he felt...knew, was the prime time to strike.

The Nightmare King moved back, and slowly carved a nail down the edge of the stone, creating an enlongated crescent-moon shape. At first, it was just a dull scraping sound, like dragging a nail over smooth wood. Then, the line he had traced shone quickly, a slight, thread-thin dash of silver, and like a tree being cut down, tipped from where it had originally been homed. It slowly fell, clattering with a muted, glass-like sound right before the man they called Boogeyman swooped down, picking it up in his hands and cradelling it like Excaliber. Because that's what it was to him.

He had pulled it from the stone. Now, to become king.

_-At a Lake- Black's p.o.v***_

"Get over here, ya blightly little frostbite!"An irate, Australian accent shouted as I laughed, standing on top of a snow-covered, frozen lake, watching as the Easter Bunny chased Jack Frost, the remains of a stray snowball clinging to the fur on his back. Jack soared just out of his reach, feet balanced on his staff and a light in his eyes as he prodded Bunny below with jokes.

"Getting a bit slow there, Hops, losing your touch?"Jack teased, and I sighed, smiling as Bunnymund gave Jack a glare meant to be intimidating, but was greatly lessened as he lunged for the winter sprite, only to slip on the slick surface and fall flat on his face, whiping off the glare. Though I was nearly in pain from keeping back a snort of laughter, I quickly shot a shadow forward and knocked Jack lightly from his staff, sending the boy to the ice with a dull 'thud'.

"Hey!"He protested, as I walked over to Bunny and helped him up, brushing the snow from him.

"I'll getcha-"

"No."I scolded, hand firmly on the large rabbit's arm. He looked from Jack to me in protest, but I shook my head and said lightly, "C'mon boys, Jack has to go help North prepare for Christmas, and we have to go decorate a few eggs before joining him."

At this, Bunny gave me a desperate look and moaned,

"But-"

"We promised! And seeing as how he made sure none of the other spirits learned about your...well...adorable little incident after Easter was ruined last year, I think you owe him one."I interrupted, and he huffed, shoulders slumping as he stomped across the lake to the shore, where a tunnel would open up and take us back to the Warren.

Before I followed, I turned to Jack and smiled as he shook snow from his already-snow-white hair. He beamed back like only Jack Frost could, and walked up to me.

"So, made any progress yet?"He asked in a hushed whisper. I quickly looked back to make sure Bunny wasn't looking, finding him searching around for the tunnel hidden beneath the snow, and then looked back with a small frown.

"Not yet. It's surprisingly difficult, considering he's painting all the time, but they're always different! How am I supposed to make it if I don't know what color to fill it with?"I asked, feeling a bit on-edge. Christmas was only a bit over a week away, and I was rendered unable to make Bunny's present despite his constant winings over how 'Easter was ten times betta' than Christmas, anyways'.

Jack gave me a sympathetic smile and winked.

"Don't, we'll think of something. Discuss it back at North's in a few hours?"He offered. I had to admit, at first I didn't know about this kid. Maybe I was used to the serious work ethic of Guardians, and his much looser way of doing things was foreign. But it was inevitable that the kid would grow on me. He was the Guardian of Fun, I was the Guardian-In-Training of Happiness, the two went hand-in-hand. I even went and helped him a few times.

But I preferred the Warren to the cold climate of Jack's specialty, and was itching to get back to the comforting warmth and paint-fumes mixed with nature. I nodded and whispered,

"You got it, Snowflake!" With that, we gave a laugh and he flew away, me spinning around, the cloak brushing snow from me as I walked quickly to Bunny, who seemed to have something slightly off about him.

He had on a frown that was more somber than his usual one, almost like a moody teenager. He had his hands on his hips and was watching as Jack flew away, barely registering that I was there until I gently prodded his side, his face snapping down to mine in mild surprise.

"Everything alright in Bunny-land?"I teased, and he shrugged, turning back to the tunnel. I raised an eyebrow, a feeling of concern washing over me at his unusual mood. That is, until that concern was replaced with shock, as we immediatly plunged below ground throught the hole that he oh-so-kindly warned me about.

For five minuets we tumbled through the Earth. Had this been almost nine months earlier, I would have tumbled ungracefully about the entire time. But I had re-adjusted myself to this mode of transportation and, after the initial surprise, placed my feet together and crossed my arms over my chest, descending down so that I was right next to Bunny, who had his arms in a likewise fasion with a sour look on his face.

"Sorry, am I interrupting your brooding time?"I mocked, and he shrugged. Sometimes, more often lately, he would get into these moods. I had no idea why, nor did I want to press the matter. I knew that if you left Bunny alone long enough, he'd eventually open up. The only thing that was wrong was the nagging concern I had for him, his upset mood upsetting my own, for reasons I'd still to figure out.

Despite this, I'd found the one and only way to break Bunny of his funk. It either ended in an all-out brawl, or with us both on our asses and laughing until we cried.

"That's it,"I said, un-crossing my arms, "You brought this on yourself, Bunnymund!" I pushed myself over and rolled on top of him, ignoring his cry of protest as I immediatly began to wiggle my fingers quickly over his light-blue fur on his stomach, the only place that made Bunny immediatly break out into uncontrollable laughter.

He was ticklish, and I swore that I would be the only one to know that.

"St-stop it!"He shouted, but I could already hear the stifled snorts as he tried to pry me from him. I held fast, us tumbling ungracefully down the tunnel as his paws latched onto my sides, my hand not stopping as I finally heard the noise I'd been waiting for.

Bunnymund's laugh wasn't like normal laughs. It wasn't controlled nor was it obnoxiously loud or wheezy. It was heart-felt and quick, a volume just above that of normal-talking, coming from his chest and deep, making me laugh in return. It was one of those laughs that made you laugh, no matter the situation. It also did something else, but why I wasn't quite sure. Before, when I was able to make him laugh once in a blue moon, before the whole 'Pitch' buisiness, I'd just laughed with him.

Now, though, something felt...off. In my chest. Yes, off was a good way to describe it. Far too happy and tight.

"I-I'll getcha back fer th-this!"He shouted between laughs, but was cut off as bright sunlight suddenly assaulted us, tumbling awkwardly out of the tunnel and rolling four times onto soft, beautiful green grass, eggs hopping out of our way all around us.

Finally, we stopped, me rolling off of Bunny and sitting in front of him, our laughter dying down into chuckles, but Bunny's sour mood immediatly lifted, easing the concern in my chest.

"Gotcha."I said, breathing heavily from all of the air-constricting laughter. He shoved my face with a paw as he stood up, immediatly repenting as he held the same black paw down, helping me to my feet.

"Why'd I agree ta let ya be my trainee?"He asked in a light tone, and I smiled up at him, into his emerald eyes that were lighter now that he was giving a small, trademark smirk.

"'Cuz I'm such good company."I teased, and he rolled his eyes before ruffling my hair with a paw, knowing I hated it, and pointed over to where the purple lake was, over a few hills a ways away.

"Yeah yeah, go help the little ones ya anklebiter."He mused, and I walked past him, giving him a slap on the back of the head(needing to jump, reminding me of how very small I was compared to him), before teasing,

"Call me anklebiter one more time and I might just let Jack in on your little 'tummy problem'." Before he could protest, I'd cloaked myself in shadow and was running over the hills, jumping over the trail of smaller eggs on my way to the purple lake, shimmering in the brilliant daylight.

I crouched in a small area on the shore, with a small hill just feet behind me and trees creating a small, 2-yard-deep, semi-path that the smaller eggs followed. I un-hid myself, a few of the eggs jumping back in surprise before I quietly smiled at them, 'shh'ing them softly.

"C'mon little guys, let's show Bunny I'm ready to actually decorate already."I said playfully, all of them immediatly jumping up and down excitedly. A warm feeling filled my chest, and I remembered how much I had missed being able to spread Happiness to things.

Gradually, the hour came and went, the systematic jumping of little eggs, a small plop-sound before I fished them out with my shadows, the little guys too small to hop out on their own. After an hour and a half of calmly doing my work, the line ended with todays production of eggs for the smaller children.

"Go on little guys, show that big grouch how pretty you are."I winked at the last few who got a nice, shining coat of light purple, the little darlings running off through the forest as I stood, knees painfully stiff, and streached.

"And now I get to decorate for Christmas for another four hours."I grumbled to myself, "I really need to talk to North about over-"I stopped dead-sentence. Every hair on the back of my neck stood up and my spine tingled in a painful way that I knew meant only one horrible, impossible thing. My breath stopped as a cold, dripping voice mused darkly above my head,

"Merry Christmas, little sister."

When I spun around, something sharp sunk into my chest. What followed was the most blinding agony I'd ever felt in my entire life...

_-Somewhere Close By in the Warren- Bunnymund's p.o.v***_

I quietly cursed under my breath, messing up a thin, light blue line across a dark blue egg. It was the third time, and the little fella was getting irritated, waggling his legs in frustration.

"Oh, calm down ya blightly little thing!"I shouted, huffing and working to fix the line, only to have the same thought that caused the disruption to come popping back in my head.

To be honest, I didn't know why I gave a kangaroo's ass. I shouldn't. None of the others seemed to, but I...I bloody didn't know! Something inside me got all frustrated and flustered with how Frostbite and Black seemed to be spending a lot more time together, talking in these whispers. What did those anklebiters have to whisper about, anyways!

That thought almost made my line turn into a zig-zag pattern. No, it was true the two were around the same age if they were humans. To be honest, Black was older than most of us, just a few centuries younger than Pitch, who was barely younger than Manny. But they both seemed to maintain a certain child-like wonder about them, both laughing and smiling at the stupidest things, and taking delight in making me miserable.

Yes, Black might be a bit less unbearable and slightly more brooding and maybe even mature than Jack, alongside a major anger-issue, if a poor soul managed to actually get her to the point of rage, but other than that they were almost exactly alike. The Guardian of Fun and the Guardian In Training of Happiness. How cute.

"Bloody Hell!"I cursed, the line smudging as I got lost again. This is what happens when I let those two occupy my mind. I have to start all over again! I honestly didn't know why I cared this much. Maybe it was because, agreeably, I might be slightly and minisculey protective of Black. Not noticable to any degree, I just didn't want the kid getting too influenced by the winter spirit. That's what I told myself.

I sighed and cradled the little thing in my hands.

"Let's getcha back to Black, little bugga'. She'll never let me hear the end of-"

"AHHHHH!" All of my fur stood up and I shot to my feet, dropping the egg softly onto the cusion of grass as the worst shriek I'd ever heard pierced through the quiet of the Warren. This wasn't just a scream. This was a _shriek, _one of absolute agony. The kind that, once you hear it, it will never leave your mind. This scream would haunt me forever, for two reasons: It sounded like an animal being horribly injured to the point of blinding agony.

And it was Black.

Before I could take a breath, I was sprinting, no, rocketing through the Warren at a speed I didn't even think possible until now. But before I hadn't had the utter determination and fear to run this hard, my muscles aching and breath stinging in my throat as I stomped in massive, lightning-fast strides, heart pounding and constricting.

"Black!"I shouted, following a panicked line of baby eggs, colored a light purple that I would have complimented, had I not been able to focus on anything but getting to Black, protecting her against whatever made her scream like that.

That's what unnerved me the most. Black could get angry, she could laugh until she cried, but she never once screamed. I'd never heard it, and settled on the fact that she might just be incapable of getting afraid, which made sense after living with Pitch, or feeling and/or expressing massive amounts of pain. I'd thought she was just one hell of a trooper.

So this, whatever this was, meant buisiness. And I was gonna give it hell for hurting her.

I finally broke through a crooked path of trees, boomerang in hand and ready to attach anything that caused that horrible shriek, but the second I broke into the small little clearing, I was momentarily frozen. My mind had to catch up, numbed with shock and an inkling of fear at what was before me. A man I never, ever wanted to see again. A man who had almost destroyed everything I cared about.

Pitch. But that wasn't what caused a majority of my shock. What was happening, that was what made me make my pause. His hand was thrust forward, some black object in his hand sunk halfway into Black's chest but no blood emitting from the wound. No, not blood. Shadows. They emitted from her chest in streaks, like snakes or arches of blackness, swarming slowly, sometimes quickly, from where she was punctured.

Black wasn't moving, just standing with her chest forward, looking like she was in some kind of a sick trance, her golden eyes wide with either pain or fear, I couldn't tell, her jaw hanging open in a silent scream, body stiff. By the time I shook myself together, realizing what the hell was happening, the last of the shadows sunk down into Pitch's arm, wrapping around him. Something made my fur stand on end by the way that the swarmed him, sinking in and becoming part of his cloak, flaming out like they did when Black got angry, like a sea of fire that snapped at you like snakes.

"PITCH!"I shouted, throwing both boomerangs at him with all my fource. Normally, this would have knocked him clean out. But not this time. This time something was wrong...horribly wrong. Pitch didn't even flinch, raising his hand as a whip of shadows slapped into the first boomerang, sending it shooting back so fast that it nicked my ear, a massive cracking sound breaking through the air as the second one was split into complete shards.

That did it. I lunged, not caring for this new and unnerving power that Pitch had, but before I could get close he threw his head back, a horrible, deep cackle echoing in the Warren before he quickly spun around, the shadows spinning like a tornado and then, in a blink, dissapearing like a ghost. I landed on all fours, head shooting over as a dull thud sounded.

My heart dropped to my stomach as Black lay there, shaking and trying to fource her way up. I wasn't lying when I said she was a trooper. I quickly shot to her side, wrapping both arms around her weak waist as I softly pulled her across the grass and to the beginning of the hill near us, setting her down as gingerly as I could, her muscles weak and shaking beneath me.

"Sheila, hey, you a'right? Talk to me, kid."I said, voice wavering more than I wanted it to. I looked down at her and... "Oh..."...Something was wrong. Whatever Pitch had done, and I had a guess that I could make out the basic premise...it was truley horrible.

_Black's p.o.v***_

I could feel myself shaking, a massive amount of effort needed to just push myself up into a sitting position. My breath seemed to be blocked, my airway feeling constricted and body so painfully weak, a massive throbbing where whatever that object was had sunk into my chest and, yet, there was no wetness of blood, nor gaping of a wound.

"B-bunny..."I said, voice too weak for my liking, so I tried again, and this time it came out crisper, "Bunnmymund...it was Pitch-"

"I know, I know, just...settle down now. Take a breath."He said, but by the tone of his voice, something was off. He was...nervoise. Bunny _never_ got nervoise. Not even when we played hide-and-seek and I'd hidden above ground for three hours. Even then, way back when, he had only gotten flustered and irate.

I looked up at him, a confused look on my face as his eyes went wide in shock.

"What?"I demanded, and he jumped a bit, blinking fast. "What's wrong, Bunny? What did Pitch do? I remember turning around, and something in my chest, then...nothing. What's that look for?"I demanded, and he cleared his throat, running a paw over his ears, flattening them before finally finding his shakey voice.

"Um...now...I'll show ya...but ya have ta promise you wont...freak out."He said hesitantly. Now I was getting worried. I gave him a steady glare and snapped,

"Bunny!" He jumped and darted away, in the direction of the only lake that had actual, clear, regular water. I looked around at the scene and my eyes fell upon two things. The first was the last inch of Bunny's boomerang lodged in a tree, the rest planted firmly in the wood. The second made my heart break.

One of his boomerangs lay in hundreds of shattered pieces. Bunny spent literally months working to perfect his boomerangs, taking intricate detail to the shape, sharpness, and designs. Sometimes it would take him over a year to make one, which explained why he would never let me forget that debt of lost and/or broken boomerangs I owed him.

But this sight...it made me sad. It must have crushed him.

"Okay, now...before ya look..."Bunny cautioned, hopping out of the trees with a stone bowl of water. I cut him off by taking it and looking down into my crystal-clear reflection...

...

..

.

"Bunny."I said, every fiber of my being straining to remain calm. Bunny could sense the tension within me and, quietly and tenderly, said,

"Now, I know it doesn't look...right..."

"I'm pink."I said, shaking as rage built up within me.

"Um, well now...it's not that bad-"

"I AM _PINK_ BUNNYMUND!"I screamed, shaking the trees, and glaring daggers at him as he fell backwards, clearly frazzled. Now, I might have been exaggerating a bit. I wasn't actually pink, persay. I was more of a...flesh-color. Actually, my skin tone probably didn't differ from that of a pale human child, more of a very light peach-color.

But that wasn't the point. I was supposed to be light grey. Now, most people would think 'hey, I'm not grey, I'm good', but that was my skin tone, the one I'd lived with my entire life.

And now I was pink. Not only that, but my golden-yellow eyes were now some shade of deep blue, the silver-lighting in my hair gone, leaving it a solid black color. Dread and fury blinded me, knowing exactly what Pitch did. The second I saw myself in this bowl, I was all-too aware of what he had done, if not confused as to how he had done it.

But that didn't matter. I was effing pink.

"You promised you wouldn't-"

"North Pole. Now!"I snapped, and Bunny was more than happy to oblige, immediatly pulling me to my feet. Unfortunatly, the effects of what Pitch had done had taken a toll on my body, and the second I tried to use my legs, they buckled.

I fell to my hands and knees, shaking and panting from what seemed to be a normal task, now seemingly impossible.

"Woah now!"Bunny exclaimed, and I felt two, furry, tender arms turn me and lift me up, cradling me like a child. I would have normally protested against this, but at the moment I was struggling just to keep my head up, breath still coming in ragged pants. Bunny's voice was softer now, if not urgent, sensing danger like only he could.

"Calm down now, sheila. Just relax, I'll take us to North's and...hopefully he'll know what ta do."Bunny hushed, and I did just as he said. I had to save my strength, because I felt another bout of anger rising up in me, and I wanted to be at 100% for that. As I rested my head on Bunny's chest, the wind whipping past me as we travelled fast through the Warren, a horrible feeling sunk into my stomach.

Bunny might not know what Pitch had done, but I did.

And things were about to get a whole lot worse.


	2. Pity

_I apologize for the length, but there was one part I really wanted to end this chapter on and things got kind of...angsty._

_-North Pole- _

It was merry and jolly. The elves were skidding about while yetis tended to their 'crunch time' work, Christmas just two short weeks away. The air smelt like cinnamon, pepermint, and woodshavings, songs and laughter ringing about in the overlook where the globe could be viewed, all of the guardians already there. It was a happy, joyful moment.

Bunnymund entered, and everyone turned, smiling and greeting him in their own ways. Tooth hugged him. Jack called him a kangaroo. Sandy made an image of a waving hand above his head. North laughed. Until they all saw the look on the Guardian of Hope's face, and immediatly froze. Bunnymund, who normally was the epitamy of confidence and collectedness, was currently running a paw through his ears, a look of nervoisness and worry on his face.

"Bunny, why long face?"North asked in broken english. Bunny looked up, brows knitted, as he said warily,

"Uh...somethin' happened, mate." North leaned forward, suddenly serious. Whatever it was, he knew it involved Black, who was currently not standing next to Bunny like she always was, no matter where you looked. Worry creased the old man's face, the little girl holding a very dear spot in his heart, and asked seriously,

"Vat happened, es bad?" Bunny looked around for a moment, trying to find words to explain the...situation. In the end, he gave North a worried look and said,

"Yeah, mate. It's bad-"

_Black's p.o.v****_

And then I walked in. No, that's wrong. I stormed in like a hurricain on the east coast, slamming open the doors with a frantic Bunny behind me, trying to calm me down as I walked with a purpose to North, Toothina and Jack falling out of shock and Sandy jumping, everyone starring wide-eyed at me for my intrusion and the 'slight change' to my appearence.

I walked right up to North, who sat in a small chair, and got face-to-face with him, seething with anger as my blood pumped hot in my veins, adrenaline the only reason I could walk at the moment. Breath coming in quiet seeths, North's face became wide-eyed, and not in wonder. After a shaky, shocked silence, he seemed to deflate a bit and nodded.

"Oh yes, es bad."

"YA THINK?!"I boomed, stepping back and holding out my arms, as if they all couldn't see already, "I'M PINK, NORTH, PINK!"

"Actually, es more flesh-colored..."I gave him a look, and he immediatly cut out his correction, nodding and saying, "But I get point."

"What happend to you, Black?"Jack asked, actual concern in his voice as I spun to face him. Unfortunatly, I spun way too quick, and my damaged body couldn't take that kind of speed at the moment. I swayed and stumbled back, Bunny quickly at my side, catching me and supporting my weight with a hand on my back and another holding my hand.

"Black!"Toothina exclaimed worriedly, but I shook my head, standing on my own and moving away from Bunny, fury building in me again. I rested my hands against the railing and looked at the globe, shaking from weakness and anger. I answered Jack's earlier question, needing to get it off my chest before I smashed something.

"Pitch attacked me in the Warren."I spat, the others gasping except for Bunny, him just tensing in anger. I remembered his crushed boomerang and more fury rose up in me. If I'd have sensed Pitch coming earlier, I could have stopped this..this horrible thing... "I don't know how he got out, but something was different about him. Something...stronger about his presence. As if he'd been charging himself or something.."

I took a breath, my lungs full of lead, and continued, "Whatever it was that let him escape was pretty damn powerful. He was able to catch me off-guard and, when I spun around, he stabbed me with something, right in the chest. The next thing I remember is this pain, and then...this." I looked down at my light-peach skin on my hand, the knuckles turning whiter as I gripped the railing harder. Humans turned a lot of different colors. Before, I was either light-grey or...well, light grey.

"But...why are you...um..."Jack tried to use the word softly, but there was no way around it.

"I know what he did, though not how he did it. I lived with him long enough to know he's the most clever person I've ever met, able to find a way out of anything, going to any lengths to put the odds in his court..." I turned and rested my back on the railing, facing the others, their eyes widening a bit still as they scanned my face. A small feeling of self-conciousness filled me and I lowered my head a bit.

"I was created to help Pitch control the nightmares before he went rouge, the ones that already existed. In order to do this, the shadows were part of me, giving me complete control over them that Pitch couldn't even dream of. Now, with whatever kind of new power he has, it's coupled with my control of the shadows...in short, he's now a superstorm, and without my shadows or control to face him, I'm human...vunerable...and our odds are now severely shifted."

I finished, teeth gritted hard.

"Black-"

"He made me weak. And I'll make him pay."I spat, but North continued, suddenly in front of me with his hands on my shoulders, making me look up at him. His face was, surprisingly, warm, cheeks red and eyes glittering, giving me the look that had cemented him as my father-figure. Whenever I had an issue, or was feeling down, and Bunny wasn't around, I went to him. This smile was one that was uniquely kind, it was the kind that made everything seem just a bit better, like everything could be fixed with a hug and a mug of coco.

"Black, dear child, all will be fine. What Pitch did we will find out, eventually. We will find way to defeat him and get odds back in our court. But, in meantime, you are very weak, not just because you are now fleshy-colored. Christmas is 2 week away, and Pitch wont do anything for day or so, so you rest, get strength, help decorate for party. Once back on feet and not wobble-wobble, we find way to get shadows back and keep Pitch from ruining Christmas, no?"North explained.

I gave him a deadpan look and said flatly,

"Pitch now has more power than ever seen before, and I'm completely vunerable and useless. And you want to decorate for a party."

"...Yes."

"Crazy Russian."I mummbled, moving away from him on wobbly legs.

"C'mon kid, rest."Bunny ordered, but I shook my head, defiant though I was now acutely aware of how utterly weak I was, surrounded by immortals while I was incredibly mortal. Painfully so.

"No, I can help. I'll just do..."I looked around, trying to find something I could do that would possibly not include strength or shadows...I drew a blank. Luckily, Toothina did not.

"She can help me bake cookies! Oh it'll just be wonderful! We can have bonding time!"She chirped happily, babytooth bobbing up and down excitedly. She gave me those wide, happy eyes, and knew that I couldn't possibly say no. I let out a silent sigh, and smiled, though something was dragging it down.

I would help, and sure, I could do this and help for the party. But this was more of a way to keep everyone's mind of what was happening: Pitch was back, and this time...this time I wasn't entirely sure that we could defeat him. We were in deep trouble, and no doubt that North would not be helping with the party planning, but in his office, trying to sort out a plan on how to stifle Pitch before he did anything...horrible.

But that wasn't it. I was...horribly embarrased. I was used to being one of the strongest Guardians, responsible in a large part for Pitch's downfall. Now...now they were almost...taking pity on me. And I hated it, hated me, but mostly hated Pitch.

"Hey, cheer up."I heard from above me as I walked with Tooth to the kitchen, looking up to see Jack floating with his back on his staff, smiling at me playfully, "You look pretty good for a human girl!" Leave it to Jack to actually coax a laugh out of me in a horrible time like this. Maybe it was because, out of everyone, I felt like he wasn't pitying me. We were both kids, both knew what it was like to be looked down upon for it.

And, at the moment, we were both semi-outcasts. I was suddenly very glad that I had Jack as a friend.

"Cool it, Frostbite."I teased back, reaching up and pushing him, causing him to tip over and fall on his face. I quickly shut the kitchen door behind me before he could get it, hearing him laughing on the other side.

"Okay! You're gonna love my sugar-free sugar cookies!"Toothina cheered. Oh, right...'Tooth' Fairy... I sighed and walked over, preparing to do something women had done for hundreds of years.

Unfortunatly, until recently, I'd been in a cave for the past nine hundred years. This wasn't gonna be pretty.

_Bunnymund's p.o.v****_

What was that supposed to mean?! 'You look pretty good for a human girl'?! If Frostbite thought he could just spout stuff like that to her he had another thing coming! Like my foot to his face! I could already feel my fur rising on my neck in irritation caused by that punk's comment... Or was it his comment? Was it how she had smiled at it, instead of doing what I expected her to do, and that was knock the kid back a few holidays? Why did they suddenly seem so buddy-buddy?

"Hmm."I heard North's pondering noise from next to me, and I looked over curiously, still a bit of irritation running around my head. He was looking at the door that Black and Tooth had gone through, then down to me from the corner of his eye with a suspicious look. Immediatly defensive, I perked up one ear and asked,

"Whata' ya lookin' at?" He just shook his head and let out a soft chuckle. Now, to most people that's a normal laugh for someone to have. Not for North. He was either smiling or booming with his infamous belly-laugh, shaking the windows and my eardrums. That meant that he was happy. A small little chuckle? That was off.

"What's wrong, North?"I inquired, something written behind the face of the old Guardian of Wonder, a trouble in his eyes that hadn't been there before. He took in a deep breath and let it out in a shoulder-shrugging sigh, crossing his massive arms in front of him.

"Black...something is wrong."He said with a heavily tired tone, laced with worry. I raised an eyebrow and pointed to the door.

"Uh, she's a human, mate. That might be what yer lookin' for."I corrected him, but he shook his head and scrunched up his nose in concentration and thought, trying to convey something.

"She yell at me. She never yell at me, at anyone but you. Something bothering her, deep down inside."North explained, and my gaze travelled back to the door, thinking of the fury that lit up her eyes, the worry and tension on her face as she tried to walk, tried to act like everything was okay, when Tooth had offered to bake cookies with her. Granted, it wasn't some big macho thing that she was used to, but what was wrong with cookies?

"I see yer point."I agreed, sensing something...off about her as well, chalking it down to nerves about Pitch returning mysteriously and taking her power. Anyone would be thrown for a loop. Hell, we would all be on high-alert now, the pricking in the back of our necks that the man we thought had been defeated was out there again. A worry twisted in my gut at the thought, wondering what he was planning...with this new power, things were more serious than ever. "But I don't blame the kid. Her brother's back and she has no power to fight back.

"If what she says is true, we've neva' been up against somethin' like this before." North nodded, leaning backwards.

"She never yell at me before, though, and even with no shadows she still scares me! I worried about our little guardian-in-training, something not quite right. Bunny, look after her?"North asked, and I scoffed, crossing my arms.

"Whada ya think I've been doin' all this time, North?"I asked. There was a silence, dragging out and making me look, finally, up at the jolly old date, who had a sly smile on his face, looking at me. In all honestly, it creeped me out, and I made a face to tell him such. He laughed, and this time it was his true belly-laugh that made a few passing elves fall down in shock, laughing until he had to whipe a tear from his eye, me wondering what was so bloody funny.

He placed a hand on my shoulder, still shaking me from his laughter, and got that 'too-close-for-comfort' thing down, leaning in until I had to pull my face back a bit to avoid an incredibly akward encounter while he gave me a knowing look.

"Bunny, I know more than most think. Especially concerning my little Black."He said cryptically, and winked, finally backing away and allowing me to breathe. "Don't mess up, I'll be vatching." Whatever the hell that meant, North didn't explain. He just turned and walked away, humming some Russian tune to himself, leaving me confused and flustered.

I shook my head and looked back at the door, thinking. Mainly about Black, and her situation. North, as cryptic and odd as he may be, had a point. Now that I thought about it, Black really didn't yell at anyone like that unless it was me, especially not at North of all people. The man was like a father to her, or at least a senile uncle, and I couldn't recall a time when she'd raised her voice at him other than to call the old nut upstairs when she made him cinnamon roles.

She was upset. But about what? Pitch. That much was obvious. Even now, North was probably talking with Manny on what to do about the increasingly dangerous situation, throwing this party only to get everyone's mind off of what we knew was going to be a big, big problem, at least until we knew what to do. Maybe about how she looked? But that was bloody ridiculous. Even though she wasn't her normal, monochramatic-self, she still had that light to her eyes, increased now by that brilliant blue color they held, like the sky right before sundown.

And sure her skin was different, but the pale, peachy color suited the little bugger, even made her now-solid black hair look as normal as always. No, she was still bloody beautiful, it had to be something el-

Wait a bleedin' second.

Bloody beautiful? Since when did I start referring to Black as beautiful? That was definitly new, and slightly concerning. First, for some reason that really got under my skin, the amount of time she spent around Jack seemed to raise every hair on my pelt. Second, beautiful? Maybe all of this stress was finally makin' me go nuts as North.

Now that was something to be afraid of.

_Black's p.o.v****_

This was beyond frustrating. It was infuriating and, worst of all, humiliating. For the second time, I fell, muscles finally giving out after two hours of baking and running around, trying to keep the elves out of the cookie dough. I panted, head slamming back more in frustration than weakness, Tooth letting out a worried 'oh!' before kneeling next to me.

Pitch would pay for this. He would pay dearly. This weakness was humiliating! I couldn't even bake freaking cookies, let alone actually fight! It had been a day since Pitch took what I held closest to me, and as hard as I tried to be resourceful and helpful, to try and prove that I was still just as strong as I used to be, the simplest task rendered my damaged and traumatized muscles into jello. Trying to hang ornaments on the massive tree. Hanging low streamers. Baking freaking cookies.

I'd ended up avoiding everyone, trying to work in solitude as much as possible not just so that I didn't mess anything up around them...but also because I didn't want them to see _how_ weak I'd gotten, and have to feel their looks of pity. I hated them. Not them, but their pity. I loved them, wanted to protect them, even looked up to them, and now I was weak and little more than a nusaince. The frustration and fury built up in me, and I finally couldn't take it.

"I'm fine!"I said, a bit too loud, as I used a nonexistant strength to push myself up, walking away as Tooth called,

"Black, wait!" But I didn't. I felt like a spoiled brat, but I couldn't take her worried look. Couldn't take my own weakness. Instead, I stomped through the workshop, turning down a hall that I remembered running down not too long ago, after I first agreed to fight with the guardians.

I always seemed to be having an emotional crisis in this hallway.

"Oi, sheila!"An Australian accent called from behind me, but I ignored him. Bunny, out of all of them, I couldn't stand to see pitying me. Granted, I hadn't seen it yet, but I had a feeling it was coming. For some reason, I couldn't stand the thought of his pity, of his knowledge of my weakness no matter how apparent it really was to everyone.

Loud hops followed me as I moved faster, finally turning to my room and throwing the door open. I was about to go 'brooding teenager' on him, but my plan was ruined when the freaking Pooka caught my arm and spun me around, a certain anger in his movements.

"What's the big idea? You stormed out and worried Tooth sick ya little anklebiter!"He yelled, eyes confused and eyebrows furrowed. I regained myself from the spin, hating that it had taken that much out of me, and fixed him with my best glare.

"Just leave me alone, alright?"I said angrily, but his grip on my arm didn't lessen. In fact, it only got stronger as I tried to pull out of it, frustrated as his eyes clouded with confusion.

"What's wrong with you, Black? You've been avoidin' everyone since you baked cookies with Tooth yesterday, yer making everyone worry about ya-"

"Yeah well maybe you should all stop then!"I snapped loudly, catching Bunny off-guard long enough to yank my arm from his grasp, moving back and walking towards the bed situated on the far wall, right under a large window with the black curtains open, revealing a light snowfall outside courtesy of a bored Jack Frost.

"Whatdaya mean by that, huh?"Bunny's voice called after me, following as I leaned a hand on a bed post, doing my best not to shake from the strain. I grit my teeth, an embarrased and irritated heat rising in my chest as a part of me tried to think of a way to make him leave...but another part wanted him here. Wanted to have him near me and...and vent. Venting to Bunny was like trying to talk to a brick. A very tall, grumpy brick.

And yet that's exactly what happened. Maybe it was the stress of jumping at every shadow, the threat of Pitch looming darkly over my mind. Or the weakness of being...human. Or maybe I just wanted to talk to him. Maybe months of fixing a broken bond, slowly mending back a trust that had been shattered by time, had changed something...

Either way you chose it, I flipped.

"It means that all of you need to stop treating me like a kicked puppy!"I shouted, spinning to him and immediatly regretting it, my arm shaking violently, glad I had my cloak to hide most of it. Bunny looked like I'd just decked him in the nose, pulling his head back and eyebrows furrowing, caught off guard by my sudden outburst. I immediatly felt horrible, a feeling of guilt burrowing in my stomach. And yet I kept going, all of my frustrations bubbling over and onto Bunny.

"I get it! I'm human, I'm mortal now! If Pitch attacks, we don't stand a chance, and you'd all get hurt and I couldn't do a _damn_ thing about it! I understand, so everyone stop acting like I'm some sick little baby in constant need of pity and care! I'm a big girl, I can take care of myself! I see those looks you all give me everytime I get tired, and you think they make me feel better? Well they don't!"I was screaming now, and was almost positive that everyone in the whole damn workshop could hear me.

Bunny's face was a mix of confusion and hurt, eyes narrowing and darting about my face, not able to get a word in as I spilled an emotional waterfall onto him, panting and blood pumping. I felt like an idiot. Yet I still didn't stop.

"I went from being able to take Pitch down to not being able to stand on my own damn legs for more than an hour! Pitch has my shadows, he's back, you're all in danger, and I can't do a damn thing about it because I'm weak! I-"

"Hold on now sheila!"Bunny cut me off, and I was about to protest, but he seemed to have heard enough. To be honest, I didn't think I could have yelled much longer without falling over. He stepped towards me with a serious and angry face, pointing at me as he said, "We don't think you're weak."

"But-"

"Don't interrupt!"He snapped, and I grit my teeth as he stepped even closer to me, voice not quite yelling, but still above his normal octive, "Weak is the last bloody thing we'd call ya! Bloody hell, kid, if that's what's been getting you upset you've worried us for nothing! We don't think yer weak, and we aren't tryin' ta treat ya like a puppy or whatever you called it! You wanna know the reason we've been worried, the reason we've been actin' like this?" He finally paused, and I frowned, quiet now.

After a second, I gave a barely-there nod. Bunny stepped even closer to me and took both of my arms in his paws, looking down at me with a softening look in his face. Bunny's face, to those who knew him and even those that didn't, his face was soft on only one occasion: children, mainly on Easter. Or, and only I had seen this, when he was laughing. For it to happen like this was odd, and in turn stirred an odd feeling in my gut.

"Because we care about ya, kid. You've been acting all screwy, and to be honest I'm afraid you'll start actin' like North."He said softly, and for the first time since Jack had been a smartass, I chuckled. "Ah, see that's betta."Bunny said quietly, and I took in a deep breath, recovering from my outburst.

"I'm sorry, Bunny..."

"Hey, I get it. I'm not a complete rock, ya know. There's a lot of stress right now, and that's why North is throwing this party soon: He wants us all to relax."

"That's ridiculous and you know it."I deadpanned, and after a second, Bunny nodded in agreement.

"I know. He's gone completely bonkers. I blame the bloody elves. But what else are we supposed to be doin'..."He trailed off, eyes looking down at me in deep thought. I turned my head to the side and gave him a curious look, wondering what was going on in the giant Pooka's mind at the moment.

"...Kangaroo?"I asked, finally snapping him out of it. He looked down at me mildly irritated, shaking himself from thought. Giving me a serious look, Bunnymund asked,

"You wanna be able to protect your friends? To stop feeling weak?" Curious and mildly concerned, I nodded, and the Pooka sighed, shaking his head tiredly. "Ah can't believe I'm sayin' this, but... Wake up early tomorrow.

"If I'm gonna train ya, we'll have to start early and work fast. Pitch wont let more than a day go by without striking, now that he has all this new power to play with, and we've got a lot of defense techniques to cover in a short amount of time an' if I remember correctly, ya don't exactly catch on fast." I froze, eyes wide and heart beat suddenly excited. I gave Bunny a skeptical look lined with anticipation at this offer.

"You sure? You remembered what happened last time..."I trailed off, and he scratched his head, moving his arms from mine.

"Ay...and I still wanna do this. Anythin' ta get ya out of this 'moody teenager' phase."He mused, and I lunged to give him a punch... Unfortunatly, I tried to use the only arm supporting me, and fell forward. "Woah!"Bunny exclaimed, catching me quickly as I shook, gritting my teeth as my muscles strained.

There was a pause, a silence as I breathed heavily and curiosity rose the longer the moment dragged on. I raised an eyebrow and looked up at Bunny, who was giving me a very...odd look. Almost as if he were embarrased at a thought...

"Uh..."He mummbled, and then said quietly, "Ye fergot yer nightlight back at the Warren, didn't ya?" And that's how I knew he was really nervous and embarrased. His accent got thicker, slurring a few words as he tried to mummble it. I thought, and immediatly cursed myself.

"Yeah. Guess the whole 'becoming mortal' thing clouded my mind."I said, though a strange heat was coming to my face as I recalled the last time I'd been in a dark room, ending up seeing out the comfort of a particular bunny...

Before I could protest, as if I had a choice, Bunny supported all my weight and gently placed me down into the bed, pulling the covers over me. A sudden yawn fourced its way from me, and my eyes were squeezed shut for a few second, when a weight pulled down the bed in front of me. Surprised, I opened my eyes, feeling a furry warmth in front of me, shifting uncomftorbly. Bunny turned his face from me, but by the sight of his ears folding themselves against his head, I could tell there was an embarrased blush somewhere under his fur.

"...Bunny?"I asked, not so much confused as I was surprised by his action, my mind immediatly flashing, once again, to about nine months ago, and felt my face heat up again. While this wouldn't have bothered me before, my skinshade barely fluctuating between slight shades of grey, I'd seen humans blush before, their cheeks turning red to betray their emotion, which was something I'd tried my whole life not to do.

"Listen, I don't wantcha kept up all night from yer little phobia, so it's this or ya don't get trained."He said in a serious tone that was supposed to cover his nervousness. I opened my mouth, but...something stopped me. Something stopped me from teasing him. Something stopped me from protesting.

But, above all, and the most perplexing and concerning thing, was that something stopped me from telling him that I'd gotten over my fear of the dark when we fought Pitch. I hadn't needed the nightlight since. And yet, right now, as my body struggled to heal itself slower than its immortal for would have, as I felt more vunerable now that ever, I felt like I needed Bunny. At least here, beside me, there was a warm, familiar warmth. One that wouldn't pity me.

He lay with his eyes closed, arms crossed behind his head, breathing softly. Leave it to Bunny to still look rough while he was sleeping, boomerangs still around his torso...boomerang, more like it, the second holster empty... And then an idea popped into my head. How to pay Bunny back for training me. But it would have to wait, because right now I was about to pass out, whether I liked it or not. I settled down, and somewhere between being barely awake and falling asleep, I wrapped an arm around Bunny's chest, a protective arm wrapping around me.

For the first time in awhile, I felt safe.

_-Outside the Door-_

"Awww."Toothina whispered, hands to her mouth as they all peered into the room, minus a certain Jack Frost, who had fallen asleep on the rafters above the workshop.

"It is adorable...but only for moment."North said, a seriousness to his tone that made Tooth and Sandy look at him sadly as the leader of the Guardians sighed at his friends within the room, knowing wisely that whatever was about to happen between Pitch and them was going to heavily impact the two. Especially now that Black was going to be trained and made stronger.

But he would give them this moment.

"Come, let us knock Jack down before he fall on Yeti."


	3. Master of Tai Chi

_I'd like to thank you all for your wonderful reviews. Seriously, some of you are making me laugh so damn hard and the others are just as amazing 3_

_-In A Cave- _

Mild anger surged in the Nightmare King, coupled with a slight concern. The subject wasn't truley worrisome, though greatly inconveniant in case anything went horribly awry. One more time, just to make sure, he trailed a hand down the center of the stone, but no tingling or massive rush of adrenaline filled his charred heart. Nothing happened, just a dull and lifeless-looking stone. He reasoned that it had no more to offer him, already giving him immense strength, along with a weapon in which he weilded to gain so much more than an upper-hand on the guardians.

"Tell me. What are they doing?"He commanded in a harsh and self-righteous tone, turning slowly and facing the nightmare behind him. When before they had watched him in the shadows, their cautiousness and mild distast evident for the man, his newly acquired power fourced them to do his bidding without hesitation. They might be shadows and fears, but they could think. They could feel. And they felt that they did not like this man, nor his newly found cockiness in the midst of his now legandary power, and found themselves missing, if only slightly due to their albeit strained emotional bounds, the girl who had once talked softly to them, with no airs about her like this man.

Begrudgingly, the nightmare bowed its head, mane falling to one side, and communicated with the man who held what used to be the girl's power.

"Training."The nightmare said through a bond between their minds, a bond that any of them would shatted in an instant if possible. Nightmares gave one-word answers, the Nightmare King had realized, and became immensly irritated with them, wondering how she ever could have dealt with them. He stepped forward, an intense glare on his face as he spat,

"Training who?"

"Black." The nightmare responded in his deep, reverberating monotone. Pitch straightened up, mind working over this unexpected advancement. It wasn't bothering him, like most unexpected things did. No, in fact, it greatly amused him. Black had never been human, and yet they were trying to train her in a body she was unfamiliar with, a body thousands of times more fragile than the one she had previously held.

Her powers were taken to prevent her fighting, but also to give Pitch total control of one of the most destructive fources in the world and beyond.

"I would say that this isn't a problem, but knowing that child she will make it one. Not like she could stand a chance of fighting that which she once controlled,"Pitch purred, looking up at his hand as he ran a thin shadow between his fingers, eyes darting as it shot back and he quickly shut his fist, the shadow dissipating before his eyes.

"But just in case..."He mused, and idea forming in his mind. At first he quickly dismissed it, but then images came back to him. The Guardians playing, while he stood there, defeated. The feeling of being on the cusp of victory, when she arrived. Anger and commonsense clouded whatever inkling of mercy he had used to spare the child of the idea, and his head snapped to the wall, where nightmares stood and glowered threateningly at him.

"Where is she?"

"Warren."The one in front of him answered, and his lips curled into a smile. The rabbit. Of course.

"Well then,"He said, glee and malevolentness dripping in his tone, "Let's pay her a visit. I do miss my little sister."

_-In the Warren- Black's p.o.v***_

"Wrong."

"How? I did what you told me to do!"

"No, I said ta get yer bloody foot back, not have them side-by-side ya gumby!"

"What did you call me, kangaroo?!" I was repaid for my remark with a swift foot knocking an arc across my feet, tripping me and pulling them out from under me. I fell on my butt, thankful for the soft grass, cursing my acceptance of this now-horrible idea.

I glared up at Bunny, who had his arms crossed and an irritated look in his eyes.

"Now, if they were staggered, you wouldn't have fallen!"He explained, exauhsted. Now, others would think that this was bad, that we were fighting and things weren't going how they usually do, that the stress was making us on-edge.

To be honest, this was going like every training session had gone. Before, he would try to teach me, I would get frustrated, making him frustrated, making me _more _frustrated, and it usually ended with us either in a pond of paint or bruised from light fighting. Or a missing boomerang.

"Ever heard of 'rabbit soup'? You're about to be the main ingredient!"I snapped, and he rolled his eyes in the most irritating way I'd ever seen, my anger boiling in me as I made my way to my feet, brushing myself off as he remained uncharacteristically quiet. Normally he'd be going on and on about how he invented half of the martial arts I needed to properly protect myself, about how my 'form' wasn't right, about how I wasn't fast or smooth enough.

The only thing that kept me actually doing this was my renewed strength, after last night actually proved to heal my remaining weakness and soreness. I looked up at Bunny, but paused, seeing him walking up to me and avoiding any sort of eye contact.

"Bunny?"I asked, but he ignored me, instead taking my arms and adjusting them: my left in the air in a little more than a ninety degree angle, the other forming into a fist and placing it at my hip bone.

"Here, this is how ya need ta stand."He instructed, kicking my leg softly with his foot and moving it back a few inches. I wouldn't admit it, but I did feel more stable, trying not to let it show as he looked me over for a second, mind turning. I felt a weird tightness in my gut as his eyes roamed me, immediatly mentally shaking myself for such silliness. This was Bunny, he'd looked at me pleanty of times, so why recently was I acting so strange about it?

I didn't get time to finish the thought, two strong paws on my waist with Bunny very...very close. He slowly applied pressure and turned me a bit more foreward, my stomach in full-on flip mode and face heating up again. Why did human's faces get hot everytime something odd happened? It was involuntary and not even something I could control, making it all the more frustrating.

"There. Now if I attacked ya from ova' here-"He stopped himself and I almost jumped out of my skin, his arm swinging in a blur towards me. It must have been a reflex, because I didn't even think when my arm shot out and my forearm made contact with his, hand flipping forward and grabbing his elbow and throwing, sending him stumbling a bit over, all the while shouting,

"What the hell?!"

He righted himself and raised an eyebrow at me, arms crossed and a self-satisfied smile on his face. I paused a moment, frowning like a little kid, at a loss for what to say.

"See what happens when ya listen?"He teased, and I huffed.

"Great. Now I can make them stumble. My life has been saved."I deadpanned, and his smirk faded, making him look like an irate teacher. Which, to be fair, he kinda was. And I was the snarky, unmotivated student. No, that's wrong. I was motivated. It was just impossible to learn from Bunny, with his bragging and complicated way of explaining things.

"Ya just need ta apply it to an actual fight."He explained, and this time I was the one with the smirk.

"Okay, put 'em up, kangaroo!"I exclaimed, but he shook his head and pointed to me.

"Not on yer life. At this point I'd be surprised if ya could fight yer way outta a bloody paper bag." I huffed and dropped my stance, seeing a look of protest from him as I threw my arms out for emphisis as I exclaimed,

"We've been at this for, what, five hours? How am I gonna learn if I'm not actually fighting?"

"Ye have ta learn the basics first! And I'm not bloody surprised it's taken you five hours to learn less than half! I've seen ya fight before, yer bloody good, yer just not trying now!"He accused, and I spun away from him, walking off in frustration. This was also how our session usually ended. Except before, if I was really pissed, like now, I'd cloak myself in shadows and dissapear until I cooled down.

Now I just looked like a spoiled brat.

"Freakin' kangaroo..."I muttered, and less than a second afterward I felt the hairs on the back of my neck stand up, gasping, an image of Pitch shooting through my mind before I spun around and whipped my and across, coming in contact with something and wrapping my hand around it before throwing it, just like I'd done to Bunny a few minuets ago.

I must have really pissed him off, because he was suddenly in front of me, scaring the living hell out of me before, by sheer reflex, sweeping my feet across his and pulling, tripping him backwards as he let out a soft 'oof'. Unfortunatly, his feet were rather large, and I ended up tripping myself forward in the process. This left us in quite the awkward situation.

I landed hard on top of him, getting a face full of chest fur as my hands skidded on the grass, our legs tangled up like yarn after the elves got their hands on it. I took a moment to recover from the impact, slowly pushing myself up and looking down... My face was so close to Bunnymund's that I could feel his soft breath, look at the details in his emerald eyes, feel his heartbeat beneath me begin to quicken as mine did.

For a moment, I stayed there. Not out of shock, though that was coursing through me, and not out of exauhstion. I stayed there for the same reason I let him stay last night. Feeling his warmth, being this close to the Guardian of Hope, with his warm and soft fur beneath me and feeling his eyes on mine...it felt safe. It felt right, like this was how things were supposed to be...but what was _this_? What was happening? And why was my stomach tightening so much?

Bunny broke the silence, his accent slurring almost all of the words,

"Yasee? Jus' have ta b' in a figh'..." I slowly nodded, eyes not leaving eachother. Another moment passed through my mind, one similar to this one. At the time, so much was going on that I had just brushed it off.

But now I remembered rolling down the hill with Bunny, feeling relieved that I had finally gained his trust back. Landing on top of him. Close to him. And at the moment I could have sworn his face had been coming closer to mine, though for what reason I hadn't known. Now, though, as I thought about it..

"Bloody hell!"Bunny exclaimed, and his eyes widened behind me. Panicked, I quickly rolled off him and looked up, heart pounding, another dark image flashing through my mind and sheer terror gripping me. What I saw wasn't what I was expecting. In fact, it wasn't even serious. The rainbow-colored aurora glistened across the sky, unseen to all but the Guardians as North summoned us to his home. Irritation filled where terror once had and I looked over at Bunny incredously, the moment passing.

"What the hell?! I though it was Pitch or something!"I shouted, trying to keep the uneasiness out of my voice. Bunny ignored me, though, standing up and brushing himself off.

"Betta go anyway. North said ta meet 'im tonight, if he's callin' us earlier then somethin' might be up."He said nonchalantly, reaching a paw down. I took it, him pulling me to my feet slowly as I opened my mouth to say that he should probably go get his boomerang, when he cut me off. "I'm goin' alone. You stay here and practice."

I gave him a look that said 'have you laced your carrots with meth', because like hell was he going without me!

"Like hell!"I shouted, but he turned to me with such a serious and determined face, an even stronger version of the one he held when training me, that I actually stopped and became worried. His eyebrows were drawn and his eyes dark, face dead serious as he said in a commanding tone,

"If it's danga', you can't protect yourself. I don't wantcha gettin' hurt, and I'm not takin' my chances with your safety. Stay here, if it's nothin' I'll come back fer ya. Until then, practice not fallin' when you take down an enemy." Normally, I would have given him a good, playful knock upside the head and asked if he were feeling alright, followed by a verbal lashing about how I was going and if it were danger it would be me saving him...

But something about how he said it changed my mind. It was as if...as if he were actually concerned, about me. With this swimming in my mind, I nodded. Without even taking a second glance, he turned and took off, dissapearing within' a few short leaps. I was going to go back and actually do some training, going to show him when he got back that I really was capable of protecting myself...and I was also going to ponder what the hell had just happened.

I was going to do a lot of things.

Until an ice-cold hand wrapped around my throat.

_-At the Pole- Bunnymund's p.o.v***_

I fumed, glaring at the winter spirit, the others standing around us nervously.

"You bloody LEANED ON IT?!"I shouted, frustration boiling over in me as Frost explained how he had been flying around like the little wanker he was, and had fallen, landing on the bloody device that had called all of us. Now I was here with Black back in the Warren, probably not practicing, and taking time out of our training.

"Bunny, it's okay,"Tooth tried, as I sat on my haunches, shaking my head, "He didn't mean it."

"I bloody know he didn't mean it! That doesn't change-" I froze. The hair on my back stood up visibly, and I straightened up to a standing position, left ear twitching. I could sense their worried looks, but ignored it, a much worse feeling settling in the pit of my stomach.

Don't aske me how I knew she was in trouble. I didn't bloody know. But it was something that had grown over the time of knowing her, not fading even after the nine-hundred year absence. I could feel the danger, settling like a stone in my gut, my entire body tuned in with her safety. Right now, it was telling something was wrong.

"Bunny?"North tried, but I ignored him.

"Something's in the Warren!"I snapped, turning and shooting away from them, trying to find my tunnel that I had arrive in, the others following and asking me questions I either didn't know the answers to or didn't care about. She was in danger. That's all I cared about.

_-The Warren- Black's p.o.v****_

"I do hope you liked my present. I must say, I'm enjoying it terribly well myself." I froze, the hair on the back of my neck standing on end, gut sinking so fast I thought I was going to be sick. No, he couldn't be here. I would have sensed it... If I weren't a human. And humans can't sense things like I once could.

He was silent, waiting for a response. This wasn't good. He was toying with me, knowing that once he got me alone it could take less than a flick of his wrist to end me. It was a game, and my mind raced to figure out my first move. Out of the corners of my eyes I saw nightmares creep from the shadows, moving slowly, eyes trained half on me, half on Pitch, bright red orbs narrowed in distaste.

My entire body would have trembled if I wasn't so stiff with shock, cursing up a storm inside me. This was not good. This was not good...Bunny. He was out of the Warren by now, but he said that if it wasn't Pitch then he would return to get me. Well, Pitch was here. That meant that I just had to stall until he got here, and then maybe we stood a fighting chance.

The words left my mouth before I had time to think them over.

"How did you do it?"I asked, and there was another silence, broken by a low, amused chuckle. Anger heated my frozen veins, this man that I once cherished now the source of my fury. In a slow motion, he removed his hand, and I spun around, seeing him fully for the first time in months. He looked normal as ever, the only indication of his immense strength being the shadows that shot slow embers from his robe like a fire, around the hem.

His smile snaked across his dark face, one that told me I had asked the right question. If there was one thing I knew about Pitch, it was that he loved to explain himself. He loved to show people how he had caused their fear, brag about his genius plans and detailed agendas. I was lucky that this explination was a bit of a lengthy one.

Slowly, he reached into the sleeve of his robe, pulling out something that made me freeze. I didn't know what it was, but some primal instinct told me that this was the weapon he had used, the tightening in the center of my chest where he had stabbed but left no wound telling me that whatever this thing was, it had taken my power. It was smooth, made out of a kind of oily black stone, sharpened at an end as Pitch held it loosely in his palm.

"Do you know what this is?"Pitch asked quietly, happily. I remained silent, not taking my eyes from the shard. I cringed at his amused chuckle, him turning the shard in his hand as he mused, "I don't blame you. It took me awhile to understand quite what it was when I stumbled upon it. The moment I touched the much larger, magnificent monument that this was attatched to, it chased away those nightmares, those fears. It gave me power."His voice was sick, far away, in a breathy whisper.

I broke my gaze from the shard long enough to look at him, but his gaze was at the stone, eyes wide as if seeing something...beautiful, magnificent. Like a child on Christmas day.

"So much power, but no control. At least, not like you had. And I needed your control, your power. I was in need. So the stone provided for its...child."I froze, his eyes slowly creeping up from the stone and meeting mine, a sick smile splitting his face. Chills ran up my body, mind coming to an impossible conclusion... "It was the stone that the...what do you call him...'Manny'...created us out of. A stone of shadows. Of power. Our origin, our parent in a sense.

"And it sensed it's child in danger, in need, and it provided what I asked of it and so much more."He chuckled again, and I shook my head, blurting out,

"If it wanted to protect its...children..then why help you hurt me?" A look crossed his face, flashing too fast for me to understand what it was before turning back to his dark, sinister smirk.

"Oh, I didn't hurt you. I simply stole what made you powerful, but you're still in perfect health...for a human." I grit my teeth, the Bunny in the back of my mind telling me to keep my cool, even as every muscle in my body tensed and I could feel my blood pumping in my chest. He used the stone that I was born from, the stone that freed him of his nightmares, to take my shadows, my immortality.

"I did love our talk, but unfortunatly I must cut our visit short."He said, stepping back a few steps. I was suddenly aware of the nightmares closing in on me, creating a semi-circle behind me. I froze, gut tight, realizing that I hadn't stalled nearly long enough. Pitch's eyes darkened with something, but I couldn't tell what. "I do wish I could stay to see this, little sister. Let's call it...returning the gift that you gave me, nine months ago."

I immediatly knew what he was talking about, and the situation got a whole lot worse. Throwing his head back, he cackled, spinning quickly around, the shadows swarming around him and dissapearing just like they'd once done for me. I paused, a chill creeping up my back as I slowly, slowly turned around, seeing five nightmares behind me.

They were huffing. They were dark. They were going to send me into a pit of fear from which I might never return. When you looked at the situation, a small human girl against five dark fources, I should have been a hell of a lot more scared than I really was. Why wasn't I scared, you might be asking? Because Pitch made a major mistake.

With him gone, my mind cleared of all stress, all distraction, anger, and the things I wished I could do to hurt him in horrible, horrible ways. And it focused back on Bunny's lessons. Not just the ones from today, either, but the ones from the past. I looked seriously at each nightmare, all of them just aching for me to move, to break their line and invade my mind.

And an excitement grew in me. I was outnumbered. But I had one thing they didn't. Well, actually, two things. I felt a smile creep onto my face as I reached up and grabbed the oppisite side of my cloak, wrapping a hand around it and, in a grand and quick motion, gave it a sharp pull and threw it off.

There was a very good reason for why I had never removed my cloak, go so far as to sleep in the damn thing. Actually, there were two reasons. The first was now irrelivant, the cloak housing the shadows that I controlled to my will, always prepared with shadows close to me in case I was caught by surprise and attacked. It was my safeguard. The second reason, however, was still applicable as long as Bunny was around.

Under my cloak I wore black jeans and a grey belt, with a black, fitted tank top that had risen to just below my bellybutton over the years. Across my chest was a leather strap identical to the one Bunny wore, one I had made long, long ago. At my hip, and one at my shoulder, boomerangs hung. Certain boomerangs that were part of my debt I owed Bunny. Now, though, I was glad I had kept them for solitary, personal training when I was alone.

Quickly, while the nightmares were caught off-guard, I reached up and down and took both boomerands in my hands, expertly spinning them before quickly grabbing them, adrenaline and excitement building in my chest, the opportunity to not only show Pitch that I wasn't as weak as he wanted to make me and to give a great tale to Bunny raising my spirits as I faced the nightmares, grip tightening and lopsided smirk on my lips, saying cockily,

"Come at me, mates."

They all attacked at once, breaking their line. But I was ready, throwing a boomerang in front of me and having it shoot right through a neck, spinning as it dissapeared and slicing a hand right through the face of another, a wild whinney ripping through the air before a poof of blackness rose into the air. I ducked, one of them biting at me as I felt a rush of adrenaline, shooting a fight through where its heart would have been, an icy feeling wrapping around it as I felt a hot breath on my neck.

If Bunny had it, he wouldn't have ever let me live it down. I spun around, forearm slamming into the thing's muscular neck and hand wrapping around, grabbing a handful of mane and throwing it with a loud grunt, the nightmare stumbling and falling over with its massive weight, hitting the ground and scattering into whisps of shadows. One left, and he didn't look like the others.

He was larger, eyes a brighter red, muscles moving visibly beneath his blackened skin. He let out a snort, as if daring me to try anything. I stood still as a stone, the nightmare taking two massive steps and lowering its face until it wasn't less than two inches from mine, a beast prepared to intimidate its prey before ripping it to shreds.

I stared back for a moment, face blank and panting.

"Boomerangs go two ways."I said breathily, and the beast's eyes widened in shock just seconds before a massive tear of shadows broke through its neck diagonally, me flicking my arm out beside me and catching the boomerang in what I thought was the most badass move I'd ever done. With a tremor, the nightmare fell like melted ice, splashing into the grass before receeding into it, sinking into nothingness.

"That's my sheila." I gasped and looked up, seeing a grinning, proud-looking Bunnymund with his hands on his hips. I didnt' know what possesed me to run up and throw my arms around his neck, squeezing him like I thought I'd never see him again, but whatever had I didn't care about.

"Bunny!"I exclaimed, relieved as he stiffened a bit, before giving me a small hug back...

"Hey! Are those my bloody boomerangs?!"He exclaimed, and I quickly stepped back, laughing and scratching the back of my head, his face shocked and outraged. Luckily, Tooth flew to my rescue, my danger apparently aware to all of them when Bunny had come back. She flew right up to me and tackled me, lifting me into the air and spinning around, hugging me in a hug that rivaled North's.

"Oh I'm so glad you're safe! I was so worried when Bunny knew you were in danger! Did you defeat them all on you own?"She fussed in her light tone, quickly shooting back down to the ground and holding me at arms-length.

"Tooth, I'm fine! I swear!"I exclaimed, and she sighed, giving me a worried-mother smile before backing off a bit.

"Those were nightmares you were kicking around like a soccer ball,"Jack mused, frost spiderwebbing where he tapped his staff, Bunny glaring out of the corner of my eye. I nodded, and looked at the rest.

"Pitch was here."I said, and North nodded.

"That vas expected."

"There's more."I interrupted, their eyes now all trained on me. "He told me. He told me how he did it."I said, knowing that I would need to explain it to them sooner or later. They all stood, listening as I tried to un-jumble my own thoughts, discerning what Pitch had told me.

Once I was done, North nodded and said,

"Will be while before Pitch knows you escaped. We have two, maybe three day to prepare for next attack. Warren not safe for you." He clamped a heavy hand down on Bunny's shoulder, making him flinch from the weight, North beaming. "You stay with me! Much safer, with all guardian there he not catch us by surprise!"

Bunny's face was incredilous, shouting,

"Easte-"

"Especially safter for Black!"North added, in a...suspicious tone, as if hearing Bunny's complaints and throwing something persuasive in. I doubted that he would accept, even then. Easter was major to him and, with everything going on, we were seriously behind schedual. Besides, North would just rope us into preparing for the party tomorrow night and he didn't need-

"A'right. C'mon ya gumby."He begrudginly agreed. I stood in shock for a moment, Tooth, Sandy, and Jack expressing their excitement not only for the co-habitation we would have, but also the upcoming pre-Christmas celebration. Bunny stopped and turned to me...

"And I betta get my bloody boomerangs back!"


	4. Blushing

_-North Pole- Black's p.o.v***_

"That's not gonna work."

"Bloody hell it isn't, I've been doing this since before you were born, anklebiter."

"Not fair, I don't remember how old I am!"

"Psh, shut ya trap and keep frosting. Tooth's gonna kill us if we don't get these done in time."

"Bunny, seriously, it's not gonna-"

"What did I say?! I know how ta do this!"

"Bunny, all I'm saying is-" Before I could finish warning the giant Pooka, he pressed a defiant paw down on the 'on' button for the mixer, me ducking behind the counter calmly, having been well-aware of his folley.

"Wha-?!"Bunny exclaimed, as the blender went bat-shit crazy, spraying projectile dough about the room in a tornado-frenzy. I shielded myself from the hostile chucks, surpressing a grin as I listened to Bunny curse loudly, only able to imagine the state he must be in. The drastic whirring of the machine quickly dulled, grinding to a stop and leaving the room completely silent.

Eager to get a look at him, I stood up, a nonchalant frown on my face as I spied bits of cookie dough slopped onto cabinets, counters, floor, and even a few larger globs on the ceiling, hanging perliously above our heads. And then there was Bunnymund. Standing there, looking tough as ever with his brown leather wrist and anklebands, boomerangs hanging on his leather strap, eyes dark and eyebrows furrowed.

Oh, and covered in giant, tan globs of uncooked dough, matting his fur and getting tangled in places near his hears. What only escalated my amusement was that, at that moment, one of the bulging globs of cookie dough decided to fall at that moment, slapping right onto the top of Bunny's head and making him flinch, fists tight as the dough slid down his back, a small piece on his nose. It was taking every ounce of will power I contained to not loose it right there.

"It was set on high. Tooth said to put it on low. Of course, you knew that, being my elder and everything."I deadpanned, and he shook violently, me jumping back and shouting out as a glob of dough landed on my neck and one on my cheek, the uncomftorble feeling immediatly irritating me.

"Hey! Get over here!"I shouted, and lunged at him. But Bunny wasn't chosen to deliver millions of eggs in one night for nothing, and was across the kitchen before I could even get close.

"Ha! Gonna have ta move fasta' than that, sheila!"He teased, and an idea sparked in my head. With a lopsided grin, I jumped up onto the little island in the center of the kitchen and landed directly onto an open back of flour, Bunny's eyes widening as the white powder exploded right onto him, dusting the Guardian of Hope in fluffy dust.

"Aww, look, I made a snowbunny!"I teased, but immediatly cut myself off as Bunny glared up at me and lunged, paws outstreached as I jumped backwards, and thus began a rather humorous game of cat-and-mouse. I vaulted over chairs, sliding across the island on my hip, taking any ingrediant I could find and throwing it behind me at him, getting the same treatment by Bunny as I was assaulted with cinnamon, candycanes, nutmeg, flour, and just barely ducking out of the way of a cup of eggnog.

"Missed me!"I shouted back.

"Don't think so, mate."I swung my head forward, only to be tackled to my butt by a massive body of fur.

"Hey! Getoffa me!"I mummbled, an arm wrapping around my neck as another ground a fist into my hair painfully. Angrily, I struggled, wriggling and trying to get him off.

"Give in, anklebiter!"He called teasingly, and I swung an arm around, wrapping around his neck as I tried to gain enough leverage to remove his arms from my neck.

"Not on your life, Kangaroo!"

"Bunny! I am a bloody bunny!" He retorted angrily, and I would have said that that didn't really make anything better, when the door was flung open frantically, the movements stopping as we both froze and looked up, slightly guilty looks on our faces. Tooth floated there, eyes wide as she took in the scene around her.

Granted, it wasn't pretty. Spices were strewn everywhere, cookie dough still clinging to most surfaces, a pooling cup of eggnog on the island, chairs over turned and the mixer going, Bunny having accidentally bumped it and turning the thing on again, but there wasn't anymore cookie dough to be flung so it made an annoying, mad whirring sound. Bunny and I were on the floor, covered in all of the forementioned substances, with Bunny holding me in a headlock and grinding a currently-stopped fist into my head, me with my arm around his neck and trying to pry him off.

This is why Bunny and I shouldn't be allowed to cook.

"Vat is matter, I hear commomtion all way down in..."North cut himself off, looking wide-eyed into the room, Sandy following, Jack flying in and landing next to Tooth, eyes wide and a massive smlie breaking on his face, a laugh breaking our silence.

"Awesome! Can I play?"He asked, and Bunny and I quickly brought our hands into our laps, looking like children in trouble as we looked guiltily up at Tooth, who was still wide-eyed.

"...Sorry...he started it."I mummbled, Bunny shouting immediatly,

"Did not!" I turned and stuck my tongue out at him, him glaring at me.

"...Ahahahahaha!"My head snapped to Tooth, who was flipping over in the air from laughing, holding her stomach. I had expected Tooth, miss perfection, to completely lose her head over the mess we'd made, expecting to have lost a few of our teeth in the process. But she was...laughing? Bunny and I looked at each other and gave a shrug, laughing along with her at the ridiculousness of it all.

Jack and North followed, with Sandy giving a silent little giggle.

"Me thinks that Bunny and Black should be demoted from cookie-duty! Kitchen might not be able to take more!"North bellowed, and I scratched the back of my head in embarrasment.

"You guys, always just so...funny!"Tooth giggled, and I breathed a sigh of relief. We'd gotten off easy..

"Now you can go decorate the Christmas tree after you clean it up!"Tooth threw cheerily over her shoulder, illiciting even more laughs from Jack and North, Sandy pointing at us and sticking his tongue out as my face fell in horror. As they all left, I slowly stood, looking around at the mess we'd made...

"I hate you."I deadpanned.

Needless to say, it took about two hours to clean the kitchen spotless, and I was about to collapse and leave the Christmas tree decorating to Bunny, when I faced him and immediatly began laughing. He gave me a curious look, but I was focused on the little bit of cookie dough he still had on his nose, having removed the rest as I sprayed him with water from the sink. That took another hour to clean up. Worth it.

"What?"He asked defensively, as I took a step forward to the Pooka. Out of an instinct, I licked my thumb and reached up, Bunny pulling away in surprise. I rolled my eyes and snapped,

"You've got dough on your nose, you big idiot." This time, he didn't move, remaining almost too still as I reached a thumb up and whiped away the dough, finger brushing the small, cold, wet nose as I did, feeling a weird tightening in my chest and a heat threatening to return to my cheeks. I hurriedly ignored it and whiped off the dough, coughing awkwardly and saying, "There, ya big baby."

"I-I'm not a baby!"He stumbled over his words, coming out of a stupor.

"He's right, ol' Bunny here must be, like, a _dinosaur!_"Jack's voice travelled in, floating on his stomach and smiling. I sensed and abrupt, odd tightening in Bunny, wondering not for the first time why he acted so strange whenever Jack was around.

"Anywho, Black, got a second?"He asked, and though he gave absolutely nothing away, I immeditaly knew what he was talking about. I'd almost forgotten in the midst of everything going on, but now I realized that I had forgotten about Bunny's Christmas present. Jack and I had been pondering it for a month now, and just recently I'd come up with a brilliant idea, excited to tell him about about it. So excited that I didn't notice the jealous glare Bunny sent to Jack, or how his attitude immediatly darkned asI exclaimmed,

"Sure thing, Frostbite! Be right back, Bunny!" There was no answer. Maybe I should have noticed. Looking back now, it might have prevented a lot of things.

_-3 hours later-_

I was in hell. Pure and simple. There was no other way to descibe this. Compared to what I was going through now, turning into a human seemed like no biggie.

"Oh. My. Goodness!"Tooth exclaimed, darting around me as I stood in a full-length mirror, having been dragged into the room with the guise that Tooth had made me a Christmas present. Now, I stood in something I'd never actually worn before. And for good reason. First of all, Tooth had been wanting to make me a dress since the day she met me, but I refused, knowing it would be a bit too...feathery.

Second...well I didn't have a second reason, but the first was fine for me. And yet here I stood, wrestled into this dress and never feeling more awkward in my life. As if having to discard my cloak after it got destroyed didn't make me feel naked enough, now...this.

It had two thin straps, with a mild sweetheart neckline and a fitted bodice, slightly poofy ruching along the knee-length bottom under a black strap with a red rose on my hip, the rest of the dress a deep, vibrant red color. I stood awkwardly, arms stiff at my sides as I looked at my pale skin in contrast with the dress.

"You're just so beautiful! I'm sure Bunn- um, I mean, everyone will love it!"Tooth exclaimed, catching herself. Luckily, I wasn't listening and didn't catch her little slip up, instead focusing more on how to not have to wear this to the party that was going to start in less than half an hour. The arriving spirits had no doubt heard of my return, just like they'd no doubt heard of my betrayal. I wasn't looking forward to the judging glances, the whispering behind my back, or the general uncomftorbleness of it all.

Let alone having them see me human, and in a dress.

"...Sweet tooth, what's wrong?"Tooth asked, snapping me from my thoughts as I refocused in the mirror on her face, creased with worry. I shook my head and turned from the mirror, looking at Tooth. Tooth, from the moment I first knew her, became my mother-figure, with how she was always fretting over me and baking me cookies and what not.

But she was also my best friend, and the only girl spirit I'd ever met. I confided in her, sighing and saying,

"Just...the other spirits..."I looked at the floor, a feeling of sadness flooding me. I hadn't been fond of the other spirits to begin with, staying within my circle of Guardians and not trying to associate myself with the others. Their opinions on me didn't matter, but it wasn't going to make this party any easier, especially if it was supposed to get my mind off of Pitch.

Tooth gently took my chin in her hand, smiling at me with her bright purple eyes, a feeling of warmth filling me at her caring grin.

"Sweet tooth, if they can't accept you, who cares? Don't even look their way if they decide to be cavities! You have me and Sandy and Jack and North, and I'm sure Bunny wont mind giving a few of them a good root canal if you ask him to."That made me chuckle, and she flew more in front of me, a mischevious smile playing on her face. "Come to think of it, Bunny would do anything for you."

That caught me off guard, to say the least. I looked at her with utter confusion, inwardly cursing myself for the heat on my cheeks.

"What's that mean?"I asked curiously, and she shrugged, feighing innocence.

"Oh, just saying...you know...it is a rather...warm, good-feeling holiday. Quite...romantic, if I do say so myself."She mused, turning slowly and fluttering away. I felt myself stiffen and my jaw lock up, mind turning to mush as I tried to make sense of the situation. Tooth was acting like she knew something I didn't...

And I didn't like it.

"U-um...wh-"

"Oi, North's been callin' you two-"Bunny cut himself off after pushing open the door to Tooth's large room, stopping immediatly as he turned and saw me. Now was one of those times when I wish I could tap my foot twice and shoot down into a hole in the ground, my body frozen stiff in shock and embarassment, my stomach twisting and chest tightening, too shocked to even feel a blush.

Bunny's ears immediatly went down, flattening against the back of his head, eyes going wide and mouth dropping open a bit.

"Don't you just love it?! I think she's beautiful, just glowing!"Tooth exclaimed, and Bunny's eyes shot from Tooth to me, blinking rapidly as he tried to form coherant thoughts, his accent thickening as his nervousness grew,

"Uh, yeah, she's...uh...an'...very..b'tiful..." I stopped. Did I just hear him say...what I think I just heard him say? Did...did Bunnymund just say...?

"Great! Now out, I can't her looking this pretty with all those boys around! Shoo shoo!"Tooth ushered quickly, Bunny stumbling out as she pushed him and quickly closed the door. I just stood, frozen, mind swimming. His accent was so thick that I could have possibly heard him wrong. In fact, it was highly possible...but I'd grown up with that accent, knowing it like the back of my hand, and I could have just _sworn_ he said...well...

"You're blushing...maybe it's a cold?"Tooth teased, and I quickly spun around to change, the back of my neck heating up as my face turned red. This was going to be a long night.

_-One Hour Later-_

I swung my legs between the small poled that supported the railing, looking down on the party that was making more noise than the workshop had ever experienced. Laughing(loudest from North), joking, pranks(Jack had found a boy named April Fools. I had never seen a more dangerous combination.), music(Christmas music, courtesy of Phil the Yeti teaching North how to use an Ipod), and general happiness.

We'd changed the workshop, moving the tables and placing a couch with a massive, brightly colored tree right near the globe, the walls decorated in gold, red, and green decorations, lights sparkling and snow falling lightly outside, courtesy of Jack. The air smelt of cinnamon and pepermint, trays and trays of food laid out around the crowd, everyone enjoying the holiday feel as thought of jobs and the Boogeyman were replaced with reunions, holiday cheer, and friendship.

"Oi, this is an awfully odd place ta socialize."I heard Bunny say, crouching on his haunched next to me. I felt a momentary butterfly-feeling in my stomach, thinking of the previous encounter, before recovering quickly and shrugging.

"I'm...working my way down. I started on the roof."I explained, and heard a low chuckle next to me. Hearing it lightened my own mood, a small smile playing on my lips.

"Most of 'em are old dates anyway. But that doesn't mean you should hermit up here all night. You've still got some friends down there."Bunny mused, but I shugged again.

"They're all busy."

"I'm not."

I looked up at Bunny, but his face was indifferent, raising an eyebrow down at me. I paused a moment, thinking. Bunny, probably out of everyone, was the only person I'd probably feel less awkward around. Besides, I felt safe around him, and for whatever reason that was, that was what I needed right now, around these spirits. Safety. I scooted back and stood up, Bunny getting a small smile as he stood up as well, towering over me as he led me down the side stairs.

We were on the outskirts of the pary, nervous anxiety pulling my chest in tight, stiffening a bit. I felt a warm, soft paw on my arm, Bunny saying calmly to me,

"C'mon, it's just a bit of social interaction." I took in a deep, shakey breath, intimidated by the amount of spirits here, the noise, the eyes.

"I've been in a cave for the past nine hundred years. Sorry if I'm not up-to-date with my people skills."I deadpanned, and felt Bunny chuckle silently next to me. Feeling the steady thrum of his arm, I felt my muscles relax, and he must have felt that, too, because he quickly pulled me into the crowd. The second I entered, every hair on my neck standing up as I clenched my jaw. I was suddenly claustrophobic, and didn't know I'd moved closer to Bunny until I felt his pelt on my arm, the warmth and softness momentarily calming me in the mass of people.

I could already feel eyes on me, but wasn't looking close enough to see whispers.

"Hey there, angel."I froze, and if I could have punched the tiny, 3ft tall, chubby man flying on miniscule wings that barely suported his body in front of me, I would have already done it. I glared mildly, having not had the best relationship with this man, even in the past. In fact, I downright hated the bastard.

"New look, I like."He purred, a golden lock falling in his pink eyes, me taking all of the self-control I had not to horribly wound him.

"Thanks, you too. The stuffed-sausage look is really in nowdays, huh?"I asked sarcastically, feeling Bunny smile above me. Cupid, the spirit of love before me, didn't seem deterred. Instead, he floated closer and raised an eyebrow, almost encouraged by my denial.

"Aww, no need to poke fun...unless you want to."He wiggled an eyebrow and I was honestly going to knock him out of the sky, but a large, light blue pelt stepped in front of me, and I looked up to see a practically seething Bunny, his eye brows drawn and eyes dark, holding a boomerang threateningly close to Cupid.

"Wanna leave her alone, mate? Or do you wanna end up like that stuffed turkey ova' there?"Bunny threatened in a low tone, part of me highly amused, the other part...almost happy that he was...protecting me? No, this was Bunny. We was probably just pissed that the last time he'd run into cupid, he ended up with an arrow in his ass for a week.

Cupid got a smug look on his face and raised an eyebrow, asking,

"Oh, sorry, that vision of loveliness with you?" Bunny jolted forward, but I placed a hand on his stomach and stepped up, having heard enough. I came so close to Cupid's face that our noses were practically touching, my eyes glaring holes into his, face tight and anger boiling in my veins as I gave him a smooth, seething glare. I felt a small victory as Cupid faultered, gulping visibly and his eyes widening a bit.

"Oh Cupid?"I said in a fake-sweet voice, "Ever wonder what your heart _actually _looks like? I can show you."I offered kindly, and his face shot red, stuttering as he slowly backed away, until he was completely hidden in the crowd.

"And here I'd have reckoned it was the shadows that made ya scary."Bunny joked, and I looked up to see him smiling...damn, that smile. With the slightly-blocked flames of the massive fireplace lighting them up, casting dancing lights across his emerald eyes, I almost, for a moment, got lost.

"...Mate?"Bunny asked, and I gaped, realizing I'd been starring at him. I tried to recover miserably, stuttering,

"Uh-um I wasn't starring! I was just...just..uh...I was..." Bunny's eyes got wide and he, in return, stammered in a barely recognizable accent.

"Ah! Nah, tha' wan't wha'...I m'n..."He paused a second, collecting himself as my chest began to tighten again. "Uh...I was jus' wonderin'...if ya wanted ta dance...with me?" I was silent for a moment, seeing Bunny's ears fold back a bit in embarrasment. Was this the same Bunny that had nearly attacked me when we were training? The one that put me in a headlock a few hours ago? The one that I fought with on a daily if not bi-hourly basis?

No. That Bunny was rough and strong, cocky and serious. He would have kicked someone in the teeth by now... This Bunny was uncharacteristically nervous, running a paw through his ears and avoiding eye contact, a slight frown on his face. He was asking me to dance.

And I was saying yes.

"...Yes."I said quietly, and did a double-take, eyes wide as if he didn't expect my answer. I gulped, stomach twisting as we stood there a moment, awkward and unsure of what to do. This was Bunnymund acting stranger than usual. What would possess him to ask me to dance? I knew for a fact that dancing was not his thing, having teased him about it on numerous occasions.

Lately, so many things had been going on between us, so many odd reactions that hadn't ever happened before, that I didn't have time to add them all up. Maybe I'd taken a second, if I'd looked at everything and come to an eventual conclusion, I'd have realized what was evident to everyone. Everyone but us.

But I didn't. Instead, I blushed freely, feeling Bunny slowly wrap his arms around my waist, moving just a few inches from me. My stomach had never been more twisted, chest tighter, face hotter than it did right now, feeling his warmth this close to me. Slowly, I reached up and wrapped my arms around his neck, fingers laced in the velvety fur that surprised me, not expecting it to be quite so soft. I didn't know when we started dancing, but soon we were swaying. Not an awkward sway that I had seen others do, either.

It was smooth, slow, like a cloud moving across the sky. I looked up, seeing Bunnymund's eyes on me, his face slightly calm, slightly serious, as if he were protecting me from something, from Cupid or someone else on his mind. I felt his grip tighten, shivering involuntairily as his hands slowly shifted more around me, his arms wrapping around my waist and brushing the bare skin below the tank top, acutely aware of my stomach pressed to his, the lean, developed muscle underneath padded with even more soft fur.

Everything else faded, all of the people, the eyes, the whispers, the claustrophobia all around me dissipating. All there was was Bunny's green eyes looking down at me, his warmth, his safety, a quiet, slow Christmas song playing somewhere behind us, snow falling outside. I didn't know how we'd gotten here. And no, I didn't mean near the window. I meant here, in his arms, dancing with Bunnymund when, nine months ago, he wanted nothing to do with me.

I didn't know, and it didn't matter. Truthfully, if I did know, it still wouldn't have mattered. Because for the first time, something inside me clicked. My stomach wasn't as twisting, my chest not as tight. For the first time, I felt right. I was supposed to be here, with Bunnymund, his soft, blue fur wrapping around my waist like a safety blanket. Everything I'd been through was gone, seemed so far away from this moment.

Bunny chuckled a bit, and I immediatly felt my face get even hotter.

"What?"I demanded, and he got a lopsided grin.

"I've neva' seen ya blush before."He teased, and I quickly looked away, embarrased and frowning.

"Yeah, well...humans turn too many bloody colors." I mummbled.

"You said 'bloody'."

"Did not!"I defended, looking up at him in defiance...

This time, we both blushed. Or, I blushed, and Bunny's ears folded back on his head, upon realizing that our noses were so close I could feel the slight chill from his. And if my nose was close to his nose, then my lips were... I felt my heart rate beat speed up, eyes not able to tear themselves from Bunny's mouth. A curious, innocent thought came to my mind. What it was...like. I'd never actually kissed anyone before...

"..B-Bunny?"I whispered, voice shaking a bit, as he wrapped his arms more around me, pulling me closer to him, my nose gently touching his, the cold, soft spot twitching at the contact, our eyes slowly shifting down. I felt his hearbeat against mine, fur warming me, and I didn't feel so vunerable anymore.

"Sheila-"

"WATCH OUT!"North shouted, and I squeaked and jumped back, an elf going crashing through us and smacking into the window, a small, toy helicopter stuck in it's shirt as another elf went scurrying after its friend. I looked from the elf to Bunny, who was looking mildly annoyed at the creatures as well as a bit dazed. Our eyes locked again for a moment. 'What were we about to do..?' I thought, looking at Bunny, that stirring in my chest not going anywhere.

"Sorry! They were knocking on the door and I thought they should join the party!"Jack exclaimed, laughing and flying as he and that April Fools kid scurried away from Phil the yeti, other elves scurrying about, causing havoc. Everyone burst into laughter as North tried to catch one and went face-first into a cake. And just like that, the tension broke.

I laughed, shaking my head, and soon Bunny followed me, both of us looking at how ridiculous this all was turning out to be. Eventually, everything broke down into games with the elves, people running around and laughing, Bunny and me managing to rope Jack and the April Fools kid to the Christmas tree with the clever use of timing and a boomerang.

Everything kind of went to hell after that. Cupid got punched in the face. Mother Nature started chugging soda against Father Time. Hal Oween caught fire. Tooth got hit on. North started a food fight, and in the process, Sandy did a little re-creation of what happened in Jamie's room nine months ago, throwing a sleeping sand ball that managed to hit every spirit like a tennis ball. In a matter of minuets, we had a crowd of spirits asleep on the floor, leaving Tooth, North, Sandy, Jack, Bunny, and me.

Tooth, North, and Bunny were all struggling to get the guests into their rooms, the Workshop outfitted with hundreds of guest beds, while Sandy drifted off to sleep, floating in the air over the destroyed food tables.

"Hey, Black, look up."North said in a chuckling tone, walking out of the hall. I raised an eyebrow, Jack and I looking at each other before simultaniously looking up. Hanging above our heads was a tradition old enough for even me to remember.

"Mistletoe, now who would put that there?"Jack asked in a teasingly innocent tone, and I laughed. I'd almost been kissed once tonight, and it would take me weeks to sort that out. I didn't need another one, but hey, this was Jack. A little peck on the nose couldn't hurt. Jack seemed to be a step ahead of me, looking at me with a glint in his childish eyes and leaning forward quickly, pecking the tip of my nose, frost spreading across it and making me laugh at the tickle.

I brushed it off and opened my mouth to speak,

"Bunny!" My gut dropped, and I spun around, seeing a shocked and angry-looking Bunny standing in the entrance to the hall. All of a sudden, the warm and happy feelings were gone, replaced with an odd sense of guilt. Before I could open my mouth to say something, he turned, eyes darkening and storming up the stairs. My stomach twisted, and this time it wasn't like how it had before. This time it was because of guilt.

Why was I guitly? It was a peck on the nose! And what did it matter to Bunny, anyway? Why was he so upset?...I knew all of the answers, but being ignorant was easier than feeling guilty. I took off after him, Tooth not stopping me but the others following far behind, me climbing the steps as Bunny stormed across the overlook.

"Bunny! Wait! What's wrong?"I called, and he threw over his shoulder,

"Nothin'. Leave me alone." A hurt spread through me. And when I was hurt, I didn't know how to deal with it. Being physically hurt I could take, I'd been beaten hard before and could take a physical confrontation any day. But emotional hurt was foreign, and so like any emotionally underdeveloped child, my hurt turned to anger.

I reached up, catching up to him halfway across the overlook, and threw him around by his elbow, glaring up at him. To my surprise, his glare was just as intense, mingled with anger and hurt and betrayal. I'd seen this look before. Nine months ago. Except this time I smothered my shame with anger.

"What the hell is wrong with you?!"I snapped at him, and he clenched his jaw.

"I'm fine! And apparently so a' you, so bug off!"He snapped right back, and my anger flared. I no longer cared that we had just had the time of our lives. When I was angry, when anyone was angry, their mind fell by the wayside.

"Bug off?! What the hell did I do to you, huh? Stop being a moody teenager and just spit it out already!"I shouted, feeling my fists tighten, nails digging into my palms. Bunny's eyes darkened and he took a step towards me, face dark as he spat,

"Ya didn't do shit! Why don't you an' Frostbite go back ta whateva' ya were doin'!" I stared at him, incredolous, and hot anger boiled in my veins.

"Bunny, it wasn't-"Jack tried, but I cut him off,

"Is that it? Me and Jack? It was effing mistletoe you giant idiot! And a freaking peck on the nose! What's your problem, anyways?!"I shouted in his face, close to his as our angry breaths mingled. I knew what I was saying was hurting him, seeing it crease in his eyes as they grew darker with every word, but my anger had the reins right now.

"...Leave. Me. Alone."He growled deeply, looking less of a bunny now and more like a more intimidating, seething creature, the hair on his neck standing up in anger. My entire body was tight, blood pumping hot in my veins. I didn't know what was happening. One second we were on top of the world(literally and figuratively), and now...now I was angrier at him than I could ever remember being.

"Fine! Don't wait up!"I shouted, and spun around, hurt and anger blinding me as I took one step forward.

"Why, you and Pitch gonna have another reunion?!"

My chest tightened. My entire body froze. Numb. He might as well have punched me in the face, and it still might have hurt less. I heard a gasp, but my vision became blurry, water gathering on my lower lids. Out of sadness, hurt, or anger, I didn't know. I didn't care. I couldn't believe he'd said something like that...

"Bunny!"Tooth exclaimed, horrified. There was a silence, and I swore I could hear my heart breaking inside my ribs. Hurt blinded me. Hurt and anger like I had never felt before.

"..I...I...Black, I didn't mean ta-" I spun around and slammed my hand as hard and fast as I could across his face. He jumped back with an exclimation of pain, hand on his nose and a shocked look on his face. But anger prevented me from feeling any pity or guilt, instead I spun around again and stormed over to the wall where I knew the tunnel was.

"Black! Wait!"Tooth exclaimed, but I was already gone. The tunnel gave way and the second my feet hit ground I took off, running as fast as I could, breath pumping, lungs burning, teeth clenched so tight that Tooth would have had a heart attack if she'd known. My chest heaved and ached.

He'd never talked to me like that before. Yeah, in the past we would trade jabs and then get into a light scuffle or two, but that was it. If I was really angry I'd walk away and sit for a second before he would send a tease my way so witty that I couldn't help but laugh. But not now. What he said ripped my heart in two, the heart I hadn't even known I had. And I knew why it hurt so bad. I cared about Bunny. I let him get close to me, closer than anyone else. Only he could hurt me like this, and he knew it, that's why we kept our fights small and quickly made up.

Yes, there was a reason I preferred physical fights. I could deal with physical pain. When presented with emotional hurt, from Bunnymund, I shattered.


	5. Nightmares

_-Burgess- Black's p.o.v****_

I would have appreciated the substantial coincidence of ending up near Jamie's house after aimlessly wandering the tunnels, but right now I didn't appreciate much. After I'd sucked up my tears, eyes now just rimmed slightly with red and face back to it's not-so-normal peach, I'd walked and walked until I finally arrived at an ending, walking out into the freezing midnight air of Burgess, snow piled high in either side of the stree, frost dancing across windows and icicles giving houses an illusion of sharp fangs.

Manny looked down at me, and for the first time in a few hours, I stopped. My feet might have been aching, and my legs might have been numb from the fridgid air, but I didn't feel it. Right now, I just felt the mess I was in, the mess I'd created. I gazed up, standing on the sidewalk as Manny glowed a bright sliver in a cloudless, indigo sky, watching over the world. My life used to be so simple. I was either good or bad. Protecting children or Pitch. Loved or hated. Good or bad, it was my life.

Now it was a mess. I was vunerable, having to learn how to protect myself in whole new ways. Pitch was back, and my heart conflicted with the newfound hatred that filled me whenever I saw him, not used to the hostile feelings and still wanting to revert back to the care, the compassion, despite everything he'd put me through. And then there was Bunnymund. I cared about him. More than I used to, and sometime I felt like it was more than I should.

Maybe, if I'd grown up in a reletively stable manner, I'd know. Maybe I could identify these feelings immediatly and deal with them. But I was raised in shadows, and even before that I was too young and confused to understand something as conflicting as this. I wasn't taught to deal with emotions like this. I felt like a kindergardener in a world of grown-ups, who had full grasps on emotions and their meanings. I was lost, like a little child. At least I was able to admit that something between Bunnymund and I had changed, shifted between us and was creating new inside. It terrified me. I knew something was changing, because only Bunnymund could have hurt me that deeply.

"I know I haven't been the best kid, Manny,"I said quietly up at the moon, "But...I just need to understand. Everything's too complicated."

"Black?" I looked up, realizing that I was standing in front of a very familiar house. A mop of brown hair stuck over the railing, wide and excited eyes starring down at me as a gap-toothed grin found its way onto the face of a boy I'd grown very fond of.

"Jamie, why are you up this late? Christmas isn't for another ten days, young man!"I scolded teasingly, and he giggled nervously.

"I heard you and ran out! I only got to see you once last week with Jack before you dissapeared, I was getting worried."He explained, and I felt a warm sensation in my chest again, like the one I'd gotten the first time I'd met his little sister. At first, I visited them because I felt mildly guilty for getting them into the situation they'd gotten in. But, after visiting them multiple times over the course of the past nine months, occasionally sneaking them an Easter Egg, the kids kind of grew on me. Their hearts were so full of belief and eyes full of wonder.

"Hold on, I'll be right up."I called, feeling genuinly bad about ditching out on the kid. After all the chaos of the past few days, I'd completely forgotten about the last kid who had believed those months ago. Carefully and calmly, I climbed onto the pourch railing, pulling myself up onto the smaller first roof, and getting on my tip-toes to grab onto the balcony railing, pulling myself up and swinging over, landing in front of a surprised Jamie.

"What happened to you?! You're...you're a person!"He exclaimed in childish wonder. I smirked at him, part of my heavy mood lifting as his bright, innocentness shone up at me.

"I've always been a person, Jamie."I said teasingly, and he blushed, "But...well...something kind of happened. That's why I haven't been able to visit you, there's just...a lot going on."I tried to sound nonchalant, but Jamie was sharper than most, and immediatly got a concerned look on his face.

"Is it Pitch?"He asked quietly, bottom lip pushed out. I immediatly went into guardian mode, reaching down and lifting him up by his armpits and placing him on his windowsill.

"Don't worry about it, kid. We've got it all under control. Now get in before we both catch colds."I mothered, and he jumped into the blue room, me following quickly after him. I hadn't landed on the floor for more than a second, before a familiar squeal and a messy mop of poorly cut hair tackled into me, wrapping around my legs as the girl exclaimed,

"Tag!" She wasn't asking to play the game, as I'd realized, but giving me a little...calling card, if you will. I immediatly melted, kneeling down and giving her a big, tight hug, her little arms wrapping around me as I laughed quietly, saying,

"Hey there, Sophie bear!" She giggled and stepped back, jumping up and down and holding something familiar in front of me, the little pink ears flopping. It was the little pink bunny I'd created for her back in the Warren, and normally I would have laughed and made a crack at Bunny, one that only Jamie would laugh at and Sophie would just laugh because her older brother had. But now, looking at it, I felt another pang of sadness.

"Black? You okay?"Jamie asked, and I looked up at him, his face still concerned. If there had been one thing I'd learned about Jamie, it was that he was both a child at heart, and incredibly mature. He would believe and hold wonder in his heart for the rest of his life, but even at his young age he was able to grasp things that astonished me. Eventually, and to my great surprise, I'd begun confiding things in him. Even explaining a few of the odd happenings occuring between Bunny and me.

He had become like a second, less mischevious Jack to me. I shrugged and lifted up Sophie, carrying her with me to the bed where I sat down, Jamie crawling on and crossing his legs, looking at me curiously.

"Just...stuff happened."I muttered, as Sophie jumped from my lap and begun to put little braids in my hair.

"It's Bunny, isn't it?"He asked, never ceasing to surprise me. I looked over at the little boy, and wondered, for a moment, if even he knew more than I did. The thought was both impressive and depressing, and I quickly shook myself of it. I shrugged, hands in my lap as I explained what had happened, pausing right before I recalled what Bunny had said, struggling with myself to not tear up at the memory.

I was not an emotional person, and therefore I did not highly appreciate tears showing up when I least wanted them to. I hadn't had a reason to cry before, except for one time a very, very long time ago, when the Fall spirits were being the little pricks they were, and decided to take the egg I had been walking over to a child. They cracked it, right in front of me, and I'd run back into the Warren and hid myself for minuets before Bunny found me. From what I remember, Fall was missing a few spirits for quite some time afterwards.

"He said something like that? That doesn't sound like Bunny at all..."Jamie said sadly, and I nodded, shrugging.

"I don't know...something's...up with him lately."I mummbled, and it was quiet for a moment.

"Pretty! Pretty!"Sophie exclaimed, jumping up and down next to me and holding the lopsided, messilly braided piece of hair out to me, her face alight with joy. I felt a smile slide back onto my face and quickly wrapped my arms around her, her loud squeal of joy making the familiar greyhound in the corner niff in its sleep.

I pulled her into my lap and began to tickle her, her giggles dancing through the air as Jamie began to laugh along, the chorus of laughter and joy soothing me for the moment, creating an atmosphere that I could handle.

"Tickle Monster has you!"I teasingly shouted, Sophie's face red with laughter.

"Oh, how...adorable." Jamie screamed, jerking back in the bed as my face snapped up, seeing a dark, bleeding black shadow pull through the wall, accompanied by two nightmares that hooved and snorted, Sophie turning and letting out a little shriek, snapping me from my shock and bringing me back to a primal, protective instinct.

I took Sophie in my arms and turned, placing her quickly behind me as I stood, arms out wide as I seethed. Pitch was giving me an amused look, lips curled up and hands behind his back, face pointed down and casting even more dark shadows over his eyes.

"Jamie, get Sophie out of here."I said in a slow, serious tone, trying to stay calm as I hear the little girl begin to whimper. The sound made me tense, eyes locking onto the source of her fear, the thing that was making the little girl that I adored whimper in fear. Anger flared up my veins, and for a moment I didn't care that he was so much stronger than me that, if I wanted to fight, it would be pitiful.

I was protecting these children, and that made me invincible.

"What are you doing here?"I demanded, seeing Jamie scramble off the bed out of the corner of my eye. Pitch didn't even glance their way, his golden eyes set on me and me alone.

"Oh, now that's a dissapointing tale."He said, in a mock-frown, his voice dripping with something caught between evil and sarcasm. I kept a steady eye on the nightmares, prepared to attack them if they took even a step towards the children... But their eyes were also trained on me. Three sets of evil eyes, all starring at me like I was a prey to a lion, burning into me and making my vunerablility that much more apparent.

Something was wrong. And it hit me all too late. My eyes widened, gasping and tensing as Pitch's eyes got a sick, twisted sort of delight in them.

"You didn't get my Christmas present last time, so I decided to give it to you now."His voice curled, and a chill ran up my spine. I was suddenly all-too aware of how alone I was, how defensless I was against this. My mind tried to run a possible way of escape, but there was no way I could protect the children as well as myself. I tensed and my eyes went wide, the nightmares becoming misty as shadows danced off their manes.

I took in a deep breath and shouted,

"Jamie get Sophie out of here _now!_"

"Sweet dreams, little sister..."

I felt my body thrown back, coming into contact with a wall, pain ripping up my spine and stomach as the black masses swarmped around my vision like locusts, spinning and matting onto me, feeling the blackness envelope my skin and clog every pour. Heat. Coldness. Blackness. It all enveloped into me, the shadows lurching around me as my body was pinned to the wall with an incredible fource, pressing me until all of my breath left me and I felt like my ribs were going to break.

And then the pain.

Blinding, ripping through my chest like a knife. A feeling I'd had not long ago. Repeating, over and over, as I felt the shadows seep into my mind. Darkness overcame me like a tidalwave, seeping through my mind as I tried to fight it, tried to fight the darkness and the nightmares. If I was thrown into this pit, I knew I couldn't get out, lost forever in a realm of fear and terror.

I couldn't win. I fought and struggled, but a cold ran through me that I'd never experienced before. A cold that pained, freezing everything it touched, suffocating me and choking me and all I could think of was Bunny, and how I would never get to see him, never get to train again, never get to tell him I was sorry. At the moment, I felt fear. Fear for the children. Fear for the Guardians.

But I was about to feel a whole new kind of fear.

_-At the Pole- Bunny's p.o.v***_

I ruined it. I had everything in this night, everything that just felt so bloody right. I had her. I had a dance. I almost had a kiss, because I was sure now that that's what I was about to do. I had it all, and I ruined it because...because of what? Jack giving her a peck on the nose? Hell, he would give North a 'nip on the nose' if he was happy enough!

So why had I felt so broken, so betrayed? Why was I so bloody hurt that I romped up the stairs like a spoiled brat and then...then yelled at her? Said horrible things...and then more. The words I shouted reverberated through my mind and I just couldn't shake them, curling up tighter and tighter each time. _'Why, you and Pitch gonna have anotha' reunion?!' _God...how could I have said something like that?

All of the pain she went through because of one mistake, and I brought it all back. I hurt her. Those tears threatening to fall, the utter pain on her face, the absolute...betrayal... I had everything, before. I was the Easter Bunny. With my art, I could make children happy, but that meant endless workdays in the Warren, alone mostly. I was in solitude aside from the occasional visit, but I liked it. I liked being private. My legend was going to go down as the Easter Bunny, the hardest worker, the roughest Guardian. People used to tell tales about my quick temper, my sour moods, my solitary.

But there was a twist in my story. She made me do things that I didn't understand. She infuriated me. I had never felt an ounce of guilt for snapping at someone, setting aside casting Jack away when Easter was ruined last year. Before, I would have shrugged and waited for them to get over it. Now, though, I was a bloody wreck. That smack...she had never hit me like that before. With such...anger and pain behind it.

"Bunny..."North said quietly, but I didn't respond. I couldn't. I was going to let myself drown in self-loathing a bit longer, sitting against the railing, paws over my face and knees pulled to my chest. They'd never seen me like this before. Probably because I'd never been like this before. The concern in their tones, the uneasiness with which they spoke, told me that they were well-aware of how this was. Black and I fought before. Never this bad. Not even when she went to Pitch.

"Jack has gone to find Black. He vill be back and...and ve vill solve, no?"North tried to assure me, but I still didn't respond. It wasn't going to happen. After what I'd done...I hoped she didn't forgive me. I didn't want her to give me the chance to hurt her like that again.

_-Burgess- _

The winter spirit flew through the air, eyes scanning the town while thinking back on what happened. It was hard to not feel guilty, but he hadn't known. It was an inside joke, 'Jack frost nippin' at your nose'. It was innocent. Trying to steal Black from Bunny was counter productive, seeing as how he had spent the better part of nine months trying to get the two together, along with Tooth and a bit of help from Sandy and North.

The two were supposed to be together. There was a bond between them that no one could break. They had a history, they were two incredibly destructive people with severe anger-managment issues and a massive lack of social skills. It was a match made in backwards heaven. That was why the fight had shook up everyone. Jack Frost had seen the two fight before. Hell, they fought almost more than himself and the giant Pooka! But they were always started because someone got frustrated, and they would shoot witty sarcasm towards each other before one of them stormed off, only to be coaxed into a smile by the other.

Their longest fight had been 5 minuets and three seconds. After awhile, he had begun to time these things. But this...this was bad. Really bad. And he could feel it.

"Jack!"A cry came from below, one he recognized. Jack looked down, hearing the desperation in his young friend's voice and zipping immediatly over to the boy who hung out of his window, eyes wide and face distressed. A fear gripped the Guardian of Fun's heart, and he quickly floated in front of the frantic child.

"What's wrong?"He asked, and the boy looked from him to the inside of his room.

"Come in!...S-something happened..."Jamie stuttered as the winter spirit flew in, dropping immediatly to his feet. The room was slightly dark, but he clearly saw a large, person-shaped lump in the bed with Jamie's little sister crouching on the oppisite side of it, her face in a confused pout.

"Tag? Tag?"She repeated, and Jack gasped. He knew that nickname. A cold feeling dropped in his gut and he rushed over, pulling down the sheets and rolling the person over. His eyes widened and he exclaimed,

"Black! What the hell happened to her?!"

"The Boogeyman was here!"Jamie exclaimed, Jack watching the cringing in Black's face, her hair falling limply across her forehead and nose, eyes squeezed shut as looks of absolute pain and horror crossed her sleeping face. "He...he sent these things after her, the ones you guys fought before, and they threw her against the wall! Then she collapsed after they went into her head, and then Abbey woke up and jumped at the Boogeyman but he dissapeared!

"She's been like this ever since, she wont wake up Jack!"Jamie's voice cracked, the boy's nerves shot to hell over the current state of his friend. Jack took in a breath, knowing exactly what had happened. Pitch had tried it before, only this time Black had no way to protect herself. She was probably too busy trying to protect Jamie and Sophie. Always protecting the children. Always trying to protect them.

So it was Jack's turn to protect her. He did a poor job of calming himself, but managed to do more than just stare in horror at his friend.

"It's going to be fine. I'll take her to North's and he'll know what to do. Yeah, yeah he will."He said more to himself, the young Guardian trying to keep himself together. He leaned over, putting his arms under Black's black and knees, Sophie leaning over quickly and picking up Black's arm, placing a familiar pink, stuffed bunny under hear arm before letting it fall securely over it, Black's face still contorting in horror, her breath jagged and quick.

Jack could only imagine what nightmares Black of all people was having.

"Easter Bunny, hop hop hop!"Sophie said, patting the toy. Jack took a last look at the little girl, who leaned forward and kissed Black's forehead. If Black was awake, she would have smile at that. Jack quickly lifted her light frame, his staff under one arm as he awkwardly angled himself out of the window, crouching on the sill.

"Jack!"Jamie called, and he looked back over his shoulder. The little boy's eyes were wide, fear and worry written across his face. His voice became a whisper, cracking as he asked, "She'll be okay, right?" Jack wanted so badly to believe himself when he nodded and said,

"Yes. I'll make sure of it." But something inside him was aching, worry and fear taking over. He jumped from the window, shooting directly for one of Bunny's tunnels, thinking the entire time, '_C'mon, Black. Too many people love you. Too many people need you. Please, please wake up...'_

_-North Pole- Bunnymund's p.o.v***_

My head snapped up the second the doors to North's office were slammed open, Phil the Yeti shouting something in an unfamiliar language as he quickly stepped aside. My eyes went wide and a flurry of emotions flew past me at the sight. Fear. Worry. Shame. Anger. Pain.

"Jack!"Tooth exclaimed, quickly followed by, "Oh my gosh, Black!" The winter spirit stumbled into the room, falling to his knees and panting, having apparently flown here fast enough to take his breath away. In his arms lay a limp Black, her face contorted into such fear and pain that it made her face from before look almost serene.

I didn't hear anyone else. Didn't care. She was hurt. My mind shut down, and a sort of primal instinct took over me. My chest tightened and I glared, shooting forward and immediatly kneeling, taking Black from Jack's arms and holding her to me, looking down at her as I protectively wrapped my arms around her, eyes scanning her pained face as she cringed, eyes glued shut.

I felt the fur on my back rise, anger spreading through me. She was hurt. I had to protect her. That was all I could process, barely able to control my voice as I snapped harshly,

"What happened ta her?!" Jack flinched a bit, but said breathily and worried,

"Pitch...got to her...Jamie's house...nightmares." Nightmares. She was having nightmares, stuck in a world of pain and hurt. I felt helpless, knowing not how to tear her from that world and hold her safe here in mine, my world. I hadn't been there to protect her. She was alone, probably protecting the children. And that only made me want to protect her more, my mind blank as I reverted to an almost animalistic instinct.

"Bunny, we have to get her to the infirmary."Tooth said, but I barely even registered her voice. I knew they were trying to talk to me, but all I could do was breath heavily in anger, pulling her closer to me quickly as North's hand tried to touch her face. I knew he wasn't a threat to her. But the part of me that had control right now didn't care. I'd spent a good hunk of my life taking care of this girl. She was part of my life. She was the twist in my story. I wasn't lettin' a bloody soul hurt her again.

"...Bunny, she vill get verse if ve let stay like dis. Ve wont touch, but you have carry her to infirmiry."North's voice coaxed calmly in my ear. Begrudgingly, I stood, cradling her as close to me as possible and storming forward, out of the opened doors and not stopping until we got to the infirmary.

In the frenzied minuets that passed, I stood over her, seeing her laying there, looking like she was in such pain, the cringes progressively getting worse with every passing minuet. Yetis and guardians were running around, pulling a warm blanket over her from her room, trying to figure out ways to rid her of the nightmares, me never once leaving her, leaning over her and watching with a glare and barely-there mind as she struggled.

At one point, a yeti tried to put an IV into her arm. Seeing the needle coming close to her, I immediatly reflexed into defensive mode, swinging forward and knocking the yeti away, the needle falling to the floor as I once again scooped her up into my arms, pressing her close to me and gritting my teeth at the shaken yeti.

"Bunny."Jack's voice came, but I didn't acknowledge him. Up until this point, they'd been leaving me be. But I guess Frostbite decided it was time for me to snap out of it, because in a second he grabbed the fur on my arm and yanked it, making me glare at him as he shouted up, "Bunny! Snap the hell out of it! She's hurt, and you're not helping!"

Those words managed to break me from my trance. I snapped to, looking around and seeing a worried Tooth and baby tooth, fluttering near the wall. North stood there, a troubled look on his face as he starred from Black to me, Yetis standing in fear away from me, Jack glaring up at me. I slowly looked back at Black, and managed to release her, slowly settling her down and smoothing her hair from her face.

Whatever pain the daze I had gone into was preventing came onto me suddenly. I felt like I couldn't breathe, slowly falling backwards and landing in a chair that Jack quickly threw under me with his staff. I was shaking, looking at Black like this. She was never like this. Black was strong, with an air of confidence around her. Or she was happy, napping sarcastic remarks and laughing with that bloody smile.

I'd never once seen her afraid. It was horrible. It was like watching a baby puppy getting beaten, her delicate features creasing and breath coming in ragged gasps, peach skin much too pale and forehead forming beads of sweat. Her mouth curled into a grimance as her entire body convulsed, tightening before finally relaxing, jaw clenched tight. I didn't like seeing her afraid. I didn't like seeing her vunerable. It wasn't her.

I'd never get this image out of my head. Nor the feeling of utter helplessness and guilt.

"I think IV can wait until she stops moving so much...in mean time, we time try to get nightmares out."North said, an unusually morose tone in his voice.

"What about Pitch?"Jack asked. The name made me tighten, made my anger boil in my veins as I watched the one person in the world that I cared about more than anyone, anything, lay there vunerable and terrified.

"I'll kill 'im."I said quietly. And I meant it. Next time I saw him, I'd give him his own nightmares. Hurt him for all of the hurt he'd caused to her. The others stayed awhile, trying to discuss what to do. Every once in awhile they'd ask me, but I just shook my head. After awhile, the anger subsided, at least for the moment, and I felt my ears droop a bit, a feeling of sadness welling up inside me.

I stroked the top of her wrist as her grimances and cringes began to get worse, now little mewls escaping her lips that absolutely broke my heart, knowing that all I could do was sit here and try to comfort her.

"...You sleeping here?"Jack asked beside me.

"'Course I bloody am..."I mummbled, but without the usual gusto. I felt drained. Completely drained. I felt Jack press something to my arm and I looked down, seeing a small, pink, stuffed bunny. It was the one Black gave Sophie when the little anklebiter had escaped into my Warren.

"Sophie put in Black's arms when I was about to take her here. I didn't want it to fall. I guess she wanted her to have it, because she was scared or something...maybe it'll help."He said, and I could hear a tone of uncomftorbleness as I took the toy with my free hand, looking at it in my lap. At the first time I'd seen it, I hadn't paid much attention to it.

Now, though, as I looked at it, I noticed something. It had colored irises. Green. An emerald green.

"Bunny, I'm sorry...about what happened with the mistletoe."Jack mummbled. Jack was apologizing. To me. I hadn't felt this bad since I'd shouted at him and sent him to bloody antarctica. In all reality, he got on my last nerve, but I cared about the kid. I shook my head and mummbled back,

"Wasn' yer fault, Jackie. I over reacted..."

"You care about her a lot, don't you?"Jack asked, almost more of a statement than a question. I watched as her black hair fell across her face again. Everything had seemed so complicated. Every feeling, every urge, every moment. Something had changed between us and I hadn't wanted to admit what it was. I'd been alive long enough to know what it was. I just didn't want to see it, not between Black and me.

And look where that had gotten me. Now, I might never get to tell her. Never get to find out what would have happened to that kiss had the elves not interrupted it. A cold hand rested on my shoulder, and in a silent moment, me and the winter spirit bonded. He knew. I had a feeling Tooth, Sandy, and maybe even North knew, too. But they all felt just as strongly for their friend.

In the moment, we were all suffering.

"Get some sleep, Kangaroo."Jack said, patting my shoulder before leaving where the others had already exited, leaving me to comfort her, protecter her when she had protected us. Because I wanted her to get better.

Because I wanted a chance to tell her.


	6. Pink Stuffed Bunny

_I cannot begin to express how much your reviews mean to me. Writing is a major part of my life and your feed back is just amazing, thank you. This chapter is gonna get a bit dark around the sections of Black's nightmares, just warning the younger audiences. 3_

-_At the Pole- Bunnymund's p.o.v****_

"This is adorable, no?"North prodded, walking around the infirmary and keeping his mind off of what was happening by tinkering with some sort of ice sculpture in his massive hands. Like I'd done the past ten times he'd asked me, I just shrugged and grunted. I sat back in the chair next to Black's bed, not once leaving her, my mood worsening as her condition became even worse. Every five minuets or so her entire body would cringe and her face convulse, teeth clenched tight as a look of utter pain crossed her face.

I'd spent a better part of last night cuddling her to my chest, slowly stroking her hair as her body shook and soft whimpers escaped her lips. It was something truley horrible to see a force such as Black a terrified, whimpering mess. Almost as if the mightiest had fallen.

"Bunny, you listening?"North asked, suddenly beside me. I jumped, looking up at him after one of Black's convultions, completely lost to the world. North's face was a mix of stearn and sympathetic, sighing and crossing his arms, dangling a small ice sculpture of a puppy in one hand.

"Wha'?"I asked groggily, exauhsted from the sleepless night, as I tried to shake myself awake. North's features softened, eyes looking down at Black as he moved to her side, placing his hands on the edge of the bed as an audible creak rang out from his massive weight. I tensed, still trying to convince myself that here, at least, no more harm could come to her.

"Is not so bad, Bunny."North finally admitted. I bit something back, anger rising in me as North was added to yet another list of people trying to make light of the situation. They were trying to pretend like Black would get better. Like nothing too serious had happened and it wouldn't be long before we snapped her out of this and defeated Pitch. Like it was just another walk in the park. Like it wasn't tearing us all apart to just stand and watch as Black fought her inner demons in the form of nightmares.

I glared away from the large guardian, instead watching as Black's body tightened, muscles moving under bare arms and her throat constricting, eyes squeezed tight at a particularly bad part of whatever hell she was stuck in.

"Yeah. Looks like a real ball, mate."I spat bitterly, absentmindedly reaching over and beginning to rub the small of her wrist again, doing more to calm me than her.

"Bunny...we vill fix, ya. Black strong, she vill pull through in no time."He tried again, and I felt a tightening in my stomach. I knew that they were just trying to make me feel better, make me less upset and obssesive. Agreeably, I'd missed every meal and every hour of sleep in the past 12 hours, but I was willing to go a hell of a lot longer if it meant being here for her, protecting her.

"It not big deal-"

"Shove it, North."I snapped quietly, and felt the old man stiffen next to me. For the first time in awhile, I didn't regret snapping on someone. This had to stop, it wasn't going to make anything better. If anything, it was getting us farther from where we needed to be.

"Bunny-" I stood up quickly, anger finally grabbing a hold of me as I spun to the man, who took a surprised step back as I seethed up at him. I'd reached my limint with all of their empty pities and lying to themselves. It was getting pathetic.

"No, North!"I shouted, and his eyes went wide with shock. I should probably have stopped there, but he needed to drop it. This time, it wasn't me who was in the daze, "Stop trying ta believe tha' she's gonna get betta!"I snapped, blood pulsing quickly, "She's not! At least not if we're acting like nothin' bloody happened!

"She's in pain! And yer all tryin' ta downplay tha' by foolin' yerselves that this is somethin' we can fix! It isn't! Look, look at her! She ain't Black, she's _scared! _ Terrified! She's neva like that! Imagine, all that Black's been through, her entire bloody messed up life! Try an' imagine _those _ bloody nightmares! This is what Pitch wanted! He wanted her fear, her pain! And he wanted us ta be afraid and shaken like kicked puppies ova' her!

"And yeah, maybe I _am _ scared! Maybe I'm scared tha' she ain't gonna get betta'! Maybe I'm acting like a blimey moody teenaga'! At least I can admit it! At least I'm not trying ta act like nothin's WRONG!" I stopped, panting, as the door flew open and a flustered Tooth flew in, her babyteeth chirping in her ears.

"What's going on in here? There's all this yelling!"She exclaimed, as I looked up at North's defeated face. He paused, looking down at me with hurt eyes, scolded beyond necissairy bounds. Tooth waited in scared silence, all of us looking at North as Sandy and Jack flew in, everyone looking like they'd skipped out on sleep, as well. Even the little winter spirit seemed damper than usual, frown on his face and small, blue circles under his eyes.

"Bunny is right."North said quietly, and I felt a weight lift off my chest. "We are wreck without our little Black." It was true. North wasn't jolly. Tooth was more frazzled than normal. Sandy was becoming more and more morose. Jack wasn't an annoying twit. And I was at my wits end. Manny was probably shaking his head at us, wondering why we weren't doing anything about this.

"We need to prepare for Pitch."Jack said, in a shockingly mature voice. I looked over at him and recalled a time when this had happened last. When Pitch attacked. If there was one thing I could give the eternal pain in my tail, it was that when things got rough, he got down to buisiness. "He's not going to give us the luxury of time. His biggest obstacle is out of the way and he knows that right now, we're at our most vunerable. None of us have had any sleep, and we're all completely on-edge.

"What we need is to prepare Santoff Claussen for his attack. He wants us out of the way for sure first. Other than that, we should relax, get ourselves together, and make sure that Black isn't in pain for nothing." It was a major wake-up call for the youngest spirit in the room by far, the one we'd written off as an immature, eternal child. I turned to Black, seeing a bad convulsion take over her.

I quickly reached down and took the pink, stuffed bunny that was on the top of her pillow, placing it lightly onto her chest. It was a vain attempt. But right now, I didn't know what else to do.

"Jack's right. Bunny, I'll take over watching Black for now."Tooth said, floating closer. I was about to protest that there was no bloody way I was leaving her side, but I wasn't given a choice. North reached down and scooped me up under one arm, my eyes going wide as I exclaimed,

"Oi ya bloody wanka'! Put me down! Whaddaya think I am, a bloody potato sack?!" North let out a boom of laughter, this time true.

"I think this good idea. We must focus on Pitch now, not be emotional teenie-boppers, no? Yes! Yetis, prepare for attack!"North boomed, as he carried my struggling form out of the room, part of me wanting nothing more than to knock the old date over the head with a boomerang and go running back to her side...

But the other half of me heeded my own scolding, and I remained silent. Being by her side might calm me, but it would do nothing for her. I needed to help her, and if that meant beating Pitch to a bloody plup, well...I would be happy to oblige.

_-Black's p.o.v****_

I was crawling away, my body glued to the floor. It was one of those nightmares when, no matter how hard you try, you can't seem to move fast enough, body achingly slow as if moving through cement. And yet, whatever was behind me seemed to have no problem with speed. It was walking up behind me, my hands tearing and clawing to get away, to get to the others. The only thing that managed to block some of the fear was an odd, almost rhythmic brush against my wrist, something warm melting through the veins.

But, just as it had begun to break me of the blinding fear, the motion stopped.

It was behind me now.

Blackness.

New nightmare.

A room of people. People I knew. A black room, the walls moving and pulsating like waves of shadows lapping up the sides and ceiling, floor a mist that rose as if it had its own mind. Tooth. Jack. Sandy. North. Bunny. Except something was wrong. They didn't have faces.

Just masks of smoothness, little indents where eyes should be and smooth surfaces everywhere else. Panic gripped me, repeating and repeating,

"Nightmare. Nightmare. They aren't real. They're supposed to scare you. They aren't real."

"Oh, but they are..."A voice whispered in my ear, and I sat up, looking behind me to see nothing but pure blackness, my vision blocked by a wall of shadows creeping slowly towards me. I felt my breath hitch and I scrambled forward, trying to put as much space between me and the wall as possible. I stood and didn't look forward until I ran into something furry and familiar.

I gasped and looked up, seeing Bunnymund looking down at me with a look of surprise. He had a face. The others remained still as stone, just facing forward with their masks of nothing. But Bunnymund was here. He was okay. I pulled his fur and shouted,

"Bunnymund, wake me up! Wake me up now!" His face became confused, tilting his head to the side and raising an eyebrow.

"You are awake, mate." He said in the simplest voice possible. Horror struck me as I shook my head, feeling the blackness begin to thicken within it. It filtered, swarmed and stuffed like cotton in my head, poisoning my body as I struggled to keep myself sain. It wasn't real. It wasn't. It _was_ . It was so real. It couldn't be. I wouldn't let it be.

Bunny jolted and I gasped, eyes wide and mouth hung open as a black hand shot right through his chest, and in the hand was a small, light purple egg. Right before my eyes, without letting to of Bunny's fur once, the egg turned into black sand, crumbling to the ground like dust. A horrible, wretching sound came from Bunny's mouth, and I looked up to see him wincing, mouth twitching.

"It's not real. Bunny it's not real. Please."I shouted, voice catching. And in an instant, his face was calm, and I thought it had ended. He moved, pressing something to my chest. I looked down and quickly took it in my hands, seeing the small, stuffed, pink bunny rabbit. Some small part of me took me looked at this, and a feeling washed over me.

This was horrible. I was locked in what seemed to be a hell. My nightmares. The darkest thoughts conjured up in my mind brought to semi-life. I was going to go through horrible, twisted, sickening things. I was going to see my friends die ten times over. Shadows would torture me. Fear would control me.

But I looked at the toy and knew. There would be an end.

Blackness.

New nightmare.

_-At the Pole- Bunnymund's p.o.v****_

"Yetis have taken positions. Toys are locked away safe. All exits blocked. Cookies are done!"North cheered, running over to the oven in the kitchen where I sat, Jack toying with an ornament on the ceiling, poking it with his staff, Sandy floating around and sending a dream out every now and again to a child who desperatly needed it.

We'd tried to do the same thing with Black, but Sandy's sand just crumbled around her, unable to reach her.

"Very nice! Little snowman shapes!"North exclaimed, picking up one of the gooey cookies as it fell apart in his hands, the smell of sugar wafting through the air.

"Aww, Bunny's a chef now?"Jack teased, and I glared his way, shrugging, feeling a bit better now that the image of Black wasn't constantly in front of me.

"Shove it, Frostbite. Black taught me how ta do that."I shot back, and he zoomed over to the cookies, touching one and immediatly recoiling.

"Ouch! Hot hot hot!"He shouted, me rolling my eyes.

"Of course they're bloody hot! It's called an oven, ya gumby."I scolded, and he turned, sticking his tongue out at me. I growled at him, Sandy floating between us as fast images flashed across his head, too fast for me to read.

"Again, mate?"I asked, and he sighed.

"Sandy says something disturbing dreams."North translated, a small downturn in his voice. My gut clenched and I nodded. So it was coming. Pitch was going to pay. And I was going to enjoy it.

"Um, guys?"A soft voice came in, and I turned, Tooth floating in the door with a soft smile on her face. She looked at me happily and said, "She's calmed down." I jumped out of my chair and made my way quickly down the hall, the others hurrying after me as Tooth shot ahead of me, stopping only when we had gotten to the doors.

I just needed to see her calm. Needed to know she was okay. Whether it was a trick by Pitch or a reaction to his proximity.

To my surprise, it was none of those reasons.

Tooth slowly pushed open the doors, me walking in strongly before stopping dead in my tracks. I looked at her and something...something welled up inside me. She lay there, the blanket rumpled and covering her from just above her knees down. She was curled up on her right side, face twitching every now and then, but otherwise in a peaceful state that I'd longed for since Jack had stumbled in with her.

Her body wasn't tremoring, instead laying softly and calmly, chest moving slowly up and slowly down rhythmically. She looked like a child. An actual child, sleeping calmly and innocently, her hair partially over her face, the rest splayed out behind her on the pillow.

"Look in her arms."Tooth whispered so low that only I heard. My eyes strayed to where she was clutching something to her chest, arms wrapped tight around it and mouth pressed against the top of it. A small, stuffed, pink bunny rabbit. I felt a smile find its way onto my face, body relaxing in a wonderful wave of relief.

She was okay. She was beautiful, and okay, and peaceful. The nightmares might still be there, but I felt a new resolution. I could get rid of them. We all would. Confidence filled me again, making me feel like new, and I spun around to face the equally-smiling guardians.

"Sandy, where is he?"I asked, and Sandy paused a moment, eyes towards the ceiling as tendrils of sand snaked from his arms. Suddenly, his eyes shot wide and he sent one image above his head. It was an image of Santoff Claussen, right where we were. I clenched my fists, listening acutely as sounds resembling storm clouds erupted outside.

We all looked at each other, bodies tense. Morose faces.

"...Ready ta have anotha' go, mates?"I asked, and slowly, all of our faces broke into smiles. Jack's eyes twinkled again as he exclaimed,

"Bet I'll get to Pitch first!"

"Come! Let us greet our guest!"North shouted, pulling out his swords and turning, storming off with the others in tow I followed, but paused. My hands on the handles of the doors, I looked over my shoulder, seeing her laying there, peaceful.

"Hold on, sheila. We'll get ya back." I muttered, before slamming the doors shut behind me and following the guardians. We stopped, all assembling around the overlook, right in front of the globe. The sky-view over it was black, completely, as the sky clouded over with nightmares. Streaks of grey lightning shot out of them, cracking violently in the air as the atmosphere thickened.

There was a pause, all of us readying ourselves. Jack pointed his staff to the opening. Tooth tensed, her babyteeth swarming around her. North held his swords high. Sandy floated up on a cloud, arms out as tendrils of golden sand swarmed around him. I felt my chest tighten, hearing my heart thumping loud in my ears. Muscles tensed. Blood pulsated. I pulled out my boomerangs and spun them in my hands. My breath slowed.

The workshop was silent. Yetis waited. Elves waited. Guardians waited. The world waited.

A massive, black shadow began to melt upwards from the top of the globe, moving upwards as it began to take form. Pitch's head raised as the shadows around him seethed, whisping out like fire. From the whisps nightmares spawned, dozens of them and then more, all floating around the globe and eyeing us. Pitch's unnatural power, his eyes, his smile, all silent. Hate flared up.

"Sweet dreams."Pitch mused, low.

And the waiting was over.


	7. The Grey

_-At the Pole- Bunnymund's p.o.v***_

It was war. There was no better way to describe the absolute chaos and carnage that followed.

In a swarm of black stallions, erupting like a volcano, we were thrown into battle. I threw a boomerang, four nightmares exploding in a massive display of black mist before more filled the space, on jumping and me and allowing me almost no time to spin and kick it's teeth in. I could hear Tooth shouting and fighting off behind me, a massive crash and shouts filling the air, almost deafening me. It roared up as we fought to defend Santoff Clausen, five warriors all giving their all to protect what we lived for.

Yetis let out roars as they tore through the never-ending production of nightmares, the blackness swarming around and mixing with the fight until it looked like a raging sea of black and white and North and Me and Sandy and Jack and Tooth. A shot of ice spiraled to my right, crashing and destroying twelve nightmares, Jack's sounds of fight apparent as more came for him. North was shouting something that I could hear, let alone pay attention to.

"Go ahead! Fight! I'd love to see you try and beat me this time around!"Pitch voice shouted above the mayhem. I felt one of the nightmares bite into my shoulder, wincing and crying out in pain as a previously thrown boomerang ripped through its neck, the creature dusting my fur in black sand. I caught the boomerang and spun again, seeing a yeti take two nightmares down the railing with him, a loud crash signalling their arrival on the ground.

I panted, muscles aching as my injured shoulder burned hot and ached to the bone, never stopping, never ceasing my circle of attacks. We fought hard, we fought fierce. We were tearing down the nightmares by the tens, but they kept coming back.

"Tooth!"I heard Jack cry out, and I spun, knocking off a nightmare as Tooth was thrown harshly against the wall, crying out as her wing visibly bent and she crumpled down, shaking and face contorted in pain. North barreled through the crowd, swords and arms swinging as he quickly knelt in front of Tooth. I couldn't make out their conversation as I tried to get to them, as well as fight off my own black stallions, eyes red coals and mouths snapping, manes shaking and muscles flexing beneath their black skins.

My shoulder felt like it was about to tear off, distracting me enough to get knocked backwards by a nightmare. I shook myself spinning around and slicing through its face before spying something out of the corner of my eye. My head snapped to the side as Pitch raised his arm, a glint in his eyes as they widened, mouth opening in a cackle that rang out through the chaotic worshop.

I paused, and my heart sank. His arms was outstreached, a long, bony finger pointed towards North, who had his back turned and was trying to lift Tooth to her feet. A black mass formed at the end of his finger, building up and swirrling as Pitch's eyes only got wider. No. No. Not good. Not North.

"North!"I screamed, turning and barreling through the nightmares. I hopped over them, only to get pulled down, having to cut through them as fast as I could, moving far too slow. I wouldn't make it to him in time. Jack wasn't paying attention. Sandy wasn't anywhere to be seen. Despiration and helplessness. My mind reeled. I knew what was about to happen.

"North bloody turn around!"I shouted at the top of my lungs. He straightened up at the sound of my voice... But it was far too late. I stopped, frozen. A chill ran up my spine.

A black shard slammed into North, the old man convulsing and pausing. My breath stopped.

"North!"Tooth cried out, and the swords dropped from his hands and clattered on the floor. North swayed as the shadow fell from his back, stumbling to the side just as I got myself back together and broke through the line, running as fast as I could to him as he fell onto the ground, eyes in a daze.

"North! North talk ta me!"I shouted, kneeling beside him and using all of my strength to pull him up, moving him into a sitting position against the wall. His eyes rolled around, body complete dead-weight as his face seemed to relax in an exauhsted sort of way. I shook him hard and shouted,

"North! C'mon ya gumby, snap to!"

"Oh...look at that. So sad isn't it?"Pitch's voice rang out. My fur stood up and I growled, knowing not what he'd done to North, nor caring. I wasn't letting him take another one of my friends. I turned and stood, holding a boomerang tight and aiming to throw it at Pitch, who was giving me a horribly irritating smirk, hands folded behind his back as the nightmares closed in on us.

"No!"Tooth exclaimed, moving to protect North despite her broken wing. I aimed, eyes narrowing, blood pulsing white-hot in my veins, muscles tensed hard...

"Bunny wait! Sandy!"Jack shouted, barreling into me and holding me to the wall. I fought him, but he pointed up with his staff. For a second, I looked up, following the line until I saw what he meant. Sandy was rising up, slowly, arms held out beside him.

The atmosphere shifted. Something tense growing within Sandy as a column of golden dream-sand rose below him, the tendrils shooting out beside him and winding back, as if a sea of serpents. Pitch's gaze shifted, turning into one of scorn and hatred as he looked down upon his arch rival, the small golden man looking Pitch right in the eye, as brave as he was on the day Pitch had destroyed him.

It was payback time.

In an explosion of pure energy and golden sand, looking like one, massive firework erupting from the tiny man, a wave of golden sleep sand exploded outwards, arching over everything. It spread out slowly after its abrupt beginning, swarming like locusts over the nightmares and yetis that had once been locked in battle, now all pausing and looking slowly up.

"No!"Pitch screamed, "Don't you dare! Don't you-"He was cut off as Sandy gave him a smartass smirk and, quickly, a wink. Immediatly afterward he brought his arms up and quickly threw them down, the sand falling like a wet blanket over the nightmares and yetis, covering everything and spreading across the ground, now looking like normal sand.

Black whisps of mist sprouted from the golden sand, dissapearing into thin air as the yetis wavered and fell, sleeping and snoring loudly on the steps and lower workshop area. I fell against the wall, a tight feeling of utter relief filling me as Tooth and Jack cheered, North still completely out of it.

And then we hear it. At first, I thought it was wheeping. I looked up at Pitch, his head hung and body convulsing, face hidden from us as a sense of unease washed over. Slowly, though, as Pitch slowly rose back to a standing position, we realized. He was laughing.

He gave us a highly amused look between gasps of twisted laughter, eyes alight, Sandy landing back on the ground and stumbling backwards, panting. The poor little guy had used all of his energy in that massive attack, and was now looking helplessly up at a perfectly unharmed Pitch. He wrapped a hand around his stomach as he laughed out,

"Did you honestly think that those things were my only line of defense?" His face suddenly got darker, the smile now malichious and tone darker, "Please. You still have me." Tooth gasped as Pitch sunk back into the globe, suddenly re-appearing right in front of Sandy, holding a hand out as a massive black spike appeared in his palm. Sandy winced as he tried to move, Pitch's smile twisting on his features.

"Now, let's do this right this time, shall we-"

I cut him off, throwing a boomerang as hard as I could and knocking the spike clean out of his hand, sending it clattering towards the hallway. His eyes widened as he looked over, me stepping up and holding a hand out, catching the boomerang as it shot back at me.

"Don't think so, Pitch. You've got one pissed off Easter Bunny to deal with, mate. See, you hurt someone very important ta me. And I won't let ya get away without an apology."I growled, body tense as I finally got my chance to attack him, body wanting to snap into action right then and there as Pitch turned slowly to me, Jack shooting around and snatching up Sandy, skating on a sheet of ice that was created with his staff out in front of him.

Pitch looked around, an anger alighting in his face.

"How dare-" I didn't give him time to finish. I lunged, tackling him to the ground and punching his face, feeling him wince beneath me. Anger feuled me, blinding me, as I pulled another fist back, fully prepared to punch him into dust. I felt my fist connect with skin, but not the skin I wanted. My eyes shot wide as Pitch's hand easily caught my hand. His face below me grinned, raising a nonchalant eyebrow.

"Oh, so this is how you're going to avenge my sister? I must say, I'm offended!"He shouted the last part as he threw me back like I was a bloody ragdoll, landing hard on my side before rolling to a standing position, only to get not even a breath in as a massive black shadow connected with my chest, slamming into me and constricting my lungs. I felt my arms pinned to my sides, calling out as the shadows tightened painfully around me.

"Bunny!"Jack shouted, but a massive shadow out of the corner of my eye was followed by a slam, and I assumed Frostbite was out. That only feuled my anger, writhing and thinking of all the horrible things I was going to do once I got my hands on him.

I was thrown, feeling a sharp and massive pain as my skull and body connected with the railing, flying upwards until I smashed into the ceiling, teeth rattling in my mouth as pieces of plaster fell around me. I knew what was next, and I was given barely enough time to wince before gravity left my body and I was slammed into the ground below me. I tasted blood, vision blacking out as I lost myself for a moment, body exploding with pain.

I laid still, the shadow unfurling around me as I gasped, heaving and wheezing, body aching and trying to piece itself back together.

"Bunny! No!"Tooth cried, but I barely heard her over the pounding in my head. What I did hear was Pitch laughter. And my own mind. _Get up, ya gumby! You wanted Pitch, ya didn't think it was gonna be easy, did ya? Move yer arse! _An image of Black in a hospital bed ran through my mind. North's state. Tooth's wing. Sandy's weakness. Jack's unconciousness. Black's vunerablity, pain. Fear.

"Now, who's next?"Pitch asked, but slowly stopped. I moved. It took all of my power, my bad shoulder aching, but something inside me grew. Something swarmed inside me, something built up and made me move. I wouldn't stop. Not until I had Black back. I wouldn't keep going. Because if I didn't, I wouldn't let myself hear the bloody end of it.

And then my power seemed to come back. It might have been adrenaline, it might have been anger, it might have been a combination. But I tensed up and made myself get up off the ground, swallow the iron-like spit, and push myself up with my arms.

"Ahhh, how...quaint. I do hope you wont keep doing this. I'm already getting bored."Pitch's voice rang out as I got to my knees, reaching back with my bad shoulder aching, searing pain ripping through my body. But I kept going until my hand was on my boomerang. By the time I managed to get a hold of it, Pitch's hand was pointed towards me.

A black mass swelled within it, pointed directly at me. The shadows of his cloak rose and twisted, shrouding around him, tensing, breathing. His smile widened as he slowly, methodically, mused,

"This, my friend, is going to hurt."

_-Black's p.o.v****_

I curled up, closing my eyes against the roaring around me, clutching the bunny to my chest. Playing on the cave wall in front of me, within this new nightmare, were images of my friends being attacked by various things, like nightmares, monsters with distorted faces, and Pitch. None of them survived. A massive wind was creating a tornado-effect around me, my hair whipping me hard in the face as shadows spun and swarmed around me.

But I remained, clutching the bunny and burying my mouth in it, stifling any scream or whimper. It was soft. It was familiar. It kept my mind on him instead of on what was happening. It's going to stop. It's going to stop. I kept that mantra in my head. It's going to stop, it's going to stop, it's going to-

Stop. Stop?

The end was so abrupt that it took me awhile to believe that I hadn't just switched nightmares. The wind dropped, the roar silenced, and everything seemed unusually calm and still. Slowly, one by one, I opened my eyes and peered over the small toy. Silence. Calm. Still. I was almost afraid to disturbe it, cautious that it would see my movement and start up again.

But there was nothing. I moved my head up a bit and saw the wall that the images had been playing on completely blank. There was a small openeing, a tiny door, but that was it. It was almost as if I were actually back in this cave that I'd spent more of my life in than I cared to admit. It seemed too normal. Too calm.

_"...I'm so sorry...little one..."_ I jumped, standing immediatly on my feet and stumbling back from the large, black stone that I had cowered against at the beginning of this nightmare. A voice had come from it, I had sworn it did! A quiet, light voice, very breathy and whispy. I couldn't distinguish it as a man or woman, but what I could tell was that it wasn't Pitch's voice taunting me like it had in all of the others.

The stone remained, nothing special other than the disembodied voice, jutting out of the stone floor like a knife, jagged edges and gleaming sides of smooth, black stone. I panted, body trembling as I gripped the toy tighter to my stomach.

"..Wh-who are you?"I shouted, wishing my voice weren't shaking as much as it was, wasn't as hoarse.

_"I am your progenitor...you were created...out of me...you...and your brother."_ It said, taking small pauses. As breathy and light as the voice was, it didn't sound like a snake. Instead...it sounded almost kind. Regretful. Things Pitch had explained to me flashed through my head. A stone. Manny created me out of a stone, years after he created Pitch. Pitch had used that stone to take my shadows.

I gave the stone a cautious look, panting and shaking as I did. The voice emitted from it didn't seem to travel through the air, more like it was in my mind, communicating with me through a bond stronger than blood.

_"I did not know...what he would do...all I could tell...was he was...hurting. My child...hurting..and I gave him...what would ease...his suffering. I did not know...my child..."_ I paused a moment, wondering if this were still a nightmare...

But, somewhere inside, I knew it wasn't. This wasn't scary, terrifying, or horrible. This wasn't torturing me. In fact, as the voice danced across my mind in rhythmic pauses, I almost felt like I was talking to a parent. A caretaker. Something that was protecting me, just like Manny or the guardians.

"You gave him his power because...he was hurting? Because he was your child?"I asked, taking the time to appreciate the mental scarring that must have taken place during these nightmares. I was talking to a rock. Good job, Black.

_"Yes...but now I am setting...things right...young one...because you...too...are my child."_ It whispered to me softly, motherly. For some reason, I was having a hard time beliving that this was my...parent.

"Sorry if I'm a bit apprehensive in trusting something that helped my brother ruin my life."I said, trying to genuingly sound apologetic. "It just seems crazy."

_"You are talking to a rock."_ Okay. I was definitly connected to this thing somehow.

But the light mood quickly changed to one of seriousness, a tone of hurry and desperation in the stone's voice as it beckoned,

_"My child, there is not much time. Pitch...has attacked your...friends...You must...save them...Come here..." _ Some overly-trusting part of me moved my body forward, feet slightly dragging as I pulled myself forward. Once I'd gotten within arms reach of the stone, a thin, smokey black mist began to slowly dance down it, as if it were dry ice, the mist pooling around me.

And yet I did not move. I wasn't afraid. I didn't know why, and I didn't know how, but a feeling of warmth, of calm washed over me. I felt my muscles relax. All of the trauma melting away in the misty embrace of the one thing that I could almost call a parent, wrapping the mist around me and filling me, gently caressing my cheek and forehead in what I felt were kisses.

_"Black...As...Night..."_ The stone whispered my full name, _"Right the wrong...your brother has done..."_ It's voice caressed my ear as something began to fill me. It started out as a low hum somewhere in my stomach, but it grew, and fast. I took in a deep breath, a tingling exploding along my skin as something wound around inside me, a feeling of power, of energy...of a familiar feeling running wild through my veins, warming me, winding around me. A feeling I remembered fondly. A feeling I didn't think I'd ever feel again.

Power.

Light.

No more nightmare.

_-Infirmary-_

I gasped for air and sprang up, body shaking and eyes wide open, wheezing in air as I panted heavily, hearbeat like a jackrabbit in my ribs. I looked around, taking the scene. I was in North's infirmary, sitting in a bed. So they had found me and brought me here. But there was something on the crook of my elbow, something feeling like an IV.

I looked down. And it wasn't the IV I noticed. My heart lept, and I quickly ripped the needle from my arm, throwing it to the side and lifting my arm up to my face, looking at my hand. Adrenaline filled me as I felt a smile slip onto my face, almost laughing with excitement.

I was light grey. Which meant I had my shadows back. Which meant I was strong.

But more importantly, it meant I wasn't fucking pink anymore.

"That's what I'm talking about."I said excitedly, and felt my shadows immediatly flame up around me, winding up like flames as I took in a deep breath, feeling the air, the strength return to me. Damn I missed it. I looked down, seeing a small, pink, stuffed bunny in my lap. So it was real? How had I gotten it?... An image of Sophie flashed across my mind, remembering my last moments before I slipped away, and my smile widened.

There was a massive crash outside the door, and my head snapped up. Pitch was attacking. Here. That's what the stone told me.

Damn, this was gonna be hard to explain to everyone when it was over.

I threw my sheets off and got to my feet. I'd gone through enough fear, enough horror. Now, I wasn't afraid to fight Pitch. In fact, I was downright giddy. I walked powerfully forward and slammed open the doors, turning and walking down the hall, seeing yetis sleeping along the walls. Remembering that I could, I quickly cloaked myself in shadows, walking forward until I reached the end of the hallway and was at the threshold into the overlook.

What I saw was dozens of yetis sleeping on the stairs, bits of dream sand in their fur. Against the far wall, Tooth knelt next to a very loopy-looking North, her wing bent at a sickening angle. Jack was unconcious, a large bruise on his forehead, Sandy in his lap and trying to wake him up, looking weak himself.

And Pitch. His back to me, but the hatred was already starting to build up. Suddenly, I wasn't angry about what he had done. Well, I was angry about that. In fact, I was furious. But what really made the shadows around me ignite, reacting to my emotions in a way that I had missed, was Bunnymund. He was crouching there, one eye wincing, a black wound on his right shoulder as the signal of a nightmare bite. His body looked wrecked, with fur matted down and sticking out, panting, shaking as if he'd just been through a war. And he probably had.

Everything that we'd been through before I slipped into nightmares vanished. I didn't care about some damn fight anymore. I cared about him. And not wanting to lose him again. Anger flared inside me as I spied a black shard on the ground, reaching down and picking it up, holding it firm. A massive aura of shadows swarmed up around Pitch, his arm held out towards Bunnymund, who was still fighting with everything he had.

"This, my friend, is going to hurt."He mused happily.

I threw the shadows off of me, my own shadows swarming up like a fire around me, and screamed with all of my pent-up fury,

"PITCH DARK NIGHT!"

And suddenly, Pitch wasn't so tough anymore. The shadows around him dropped immediatly, leaving only him in his black robe and arms stiff at his sides, head snapping up and shoulders tensing.

"Oh no." He said quickly, voice dripping with dread. I smiled, though angry as every pair of eyes shot immediatly to me. Pitch slowly turned around, shoulder going first as he tip toed around, finally facing me with a terrified, shocked face. I huffed and the shadows lifted, Pitch's eyes widening as he paused a moment, trying to find words.

"U-um...Black!...Dear!..."He tried a nervous smile. He knew things had just taken a dramatic plot twist. I seethed, and he splayed his hands out in a futile attempt at mercy. "How are you?"He asked pathetically. I snapped.

"You, my dear brother, are in deep, deep shit!"I shouted, taking a step forward, "You can hurt me all you want, but the second, the _second _ you hurt my friends, the children, then things become messy! You've taken my power, hurt my friends, scared the children, sent me into a hell of nightmares, and, worst of all of this, you turned me _pink!" _ Pitch's eyes widened as he saw the shadows around me growing, finally getting enough sense to try and turn to run.

But there was a giant Pooka in the way. Bunnymund glared down as he grabbed Pitch by the arms and swung him around, just as I stepped right up into Pitch's face, looking slightly up and seething. Pitch's eyes flickered between mine, wide and full of fear. This was obviously not part of his plan.

"You're not hurting anyone anymore, Pitch. And I swear, this time I mean it."I growled, hand tightening around the shard that Pitch had failed to notice. He took a breath, face worried and anger igniting on his features, realizing that he was, for once, loosing.

"NO!"He shouted, "Who do you think you are?! I have your power! I have your control! You can't defeat me!"He shouted, but I just smiled calmly.

"Not anymore."I mused, and quickly brought my hand forward, feeling the shard sink into his gut. Pitch made a strangled noise, eyes going wide as he struggled to form words that didn't have the breath to make noise. He stiffened, and I felt a new tingling along my hand. Black shadows began arching from the wound, diving like dolpins from the gash to the shard, dozens of them swarming into it, feeding into it. I felt a shift in Pitch, one of pure power to one of pure helplessness as the shadows continued to leak out until there was only one.

The last one moved slower, twisting in the air before making a sharp, sudden, 90 degree angle down, shooting into the shard and wrapping itself around it. I looked up at Pitch, who's face was considerably paler, though still grey. So I got turned into a human, but he got to keep his skin color? I call b.s.

"I'll give you a five second head start."I whispered threateningly to Pitch, before stepping back and yanking the shard from his gut. Pitch was no longer the King of Nightmares. He was now weak. He fell to his knees immediatly, grasping his abdomen as he threw himself from us, crawling pathetically over, spaztically, until he reached the railing.

And, with one, last look at me from his terrified eyes, he managed to take a weak arm and wrap himself in thin shadows, spinning quickly before dissapearing completely. The shard in my hands turned to silky black sand, falling through my fingers completely, leaving not even a grain. I took in a deep breath and let it out, my muscles relaxing for the first time in what felt like a year.

Though it was short-lived. I felt two paws grab my arms and, before I could shout in protest, I was pulled harshly against a soft, furry chest. Two arms wrapped protectively around me, one around my neck and the other on my back, pulling me as close to the warm body as possible. I maneuvered my face so that I could breathe, calling out,

"Bunnymund, what the hell-"

"Just shut yer trap fer a second will ya?!"He snapped back, embracing me tighter, paw lacing through my hair, sounding extremely tired and forlorn, "I thought I lost ya, just give me a bloody second ya gumby!"He continued, with genuine care and relief in his tone. So...that meant he wasn't angry at me. He was scared. My mind went to the bunny in my arms when I woke up. The slow, comforting stroking of my wrist in the nightmares that kept me sain.

I moved my hands up and gripped the fur on his chest, burying my face in it as he pulled me even closer, feeling his chin on my head and steady heartbeat on my hands, protective, strong arms around me, slightly shaking. I couldn't belive how much I'd missed that accent.

"Uh...what happened...Hey! Black!"Jack's voice broke the moment, and I stepped begrudgingly back, head snapping to Jack, who was just waking up. I walked over to him, his smile and eyes wide as he looked up at me. And then he got a boot to the face.

"Yowch!"He shouted, scrambling to his feet with his staff. I glared at him and shouted,

"You plan on being concious for any of our battles, Frostbite?" He gave me a weak smile and laugh, and I shook my head at him. I was in too good a mood to be angry at him. Pitch was gone for now, Bunny wasn't angry at me, and I was grey. Life was good.

Until I looked down.

"Damnit, what happened to him?"I asked, kneeling down as Tooth continued to shake him. I stopped her, holding out a hand and saying, "Hey, we don't want to break his neck. Now explain what happened."I said, trying to stay calm. Tooth looked panicked, wincing every now and again as she tried to flex her wing.

"Well...P-Pitch shot him with...some shadow thing! Now he's...like this!"She exclaimed, then straightend, wincing again and saying pathetically to a baby tooth, "Massachusetts, sector seven!" Two of them flew off to retrieve the tooth. I bit my lip and shook my head, looking on as North's head lolled about and he looked dreamily at the ceiling.

"What'd Pitch do to the ol' date?"Bunny asked, kneeling next to me. I frowned, remembering this from way back.

"Pitch, at one point, found a way to send someone into a complete daze of good dreams. I guess, before he figured he could just get the kids to stop believing, he was going to try and attack Sandy somehow. The plan fell through when he realized that good dreams weren't going to give him the power of fear that he wanted..."

"So why do this to him?"Jack asked, Sandy hopping up and down, hand flailing in the air. I looked over as he panted from the exertion, multiple images playing above his head. Luckily, I was able to get the gist of it. And my heart sank.

"It was a back up, in case something happened. If North is like this, then Christmas can't happen."I mused, everyone around me suddenly quiet...

"That's the biggest croc I've eva' heard."Bunny sniffed, and I looked up at him, shocked. He was standing, arms crossed and chin up. I stood up next to him, defending,

"How so, Cottontail?" He gave me an eye and said,

"C'mon, what did we do when Tooth was in trouble?"

And I thought. Way back. And everyone's eyes went wide. My jaw dropped for a moment, Jack exclaiming,

"You want us to deliver ALL THE PRESENTS?!"

"We got all those teeth, didn't we?"Tooth tried quietly. Sandy suddenly nodded in determination, smiling wide.

"North was tellin' us he only had 'bout a hundred toys left ta make 'till the big day. I think, once the yetis wake up, we can pull it off."Bunny said firmly, determination in his emerald eyes. Jack stood straighter and smiled.

"I'm in!"

"My wing should heal in ten days, easy!"Tooth pipped up. Sandy threw an image of a thumbs-up above his head.

And suddenly, everyone was looking at me(except North, he was looking somewhere off to his right). I looked at all of them for a second and crossed my arms over my chest, raising an eyebrow.

"We've got a kid who gets kicks out of pranking people. A fairy with a broken wing. A tiny little man who doesn't talk. A horde of Yetis. Incompetent elves..." Bunny chuckled, but I went on, "And a giant, anthropomorphic bunny."

"Ay!"Bunny shouted, and I sighed, shaking my head.

"...I'm in."I muttered, and everyone began to cheer, Jack shooting up and collecting Sandy, carrying him to the infirmary, shouting that he'd come back for North and Tooth in a second. I looked over as Bunny walked to the railing, leaning on it. Jack zipped past me, full of energy, lifting North with help from Tooth. I walked over to the giant Pooka and silently stood behind him.

"...Thank you."I said quietly, "...For everything." He paused, then turned slowly to me. I was heldfast with his gaze, the sharp emerald eyes starring into my own. He was what I thought about during the nightmares. He was the person I wanted to get back to, more than anything. It was the bunny that I absentmindedly modeled after him that I held onto when I felt like I was going to fall. It was him.

When had Bunnymund stopped be my friend and become something much, much more? When had everything gotten complicated? When had I begun to shiver at his touch and crave his warmth, to just look at him and immediatly want...something. Something tugging at my heart. The tug. Well, if I was going to go off of that, then I guess everything began the first moment I saw him.

He placed his hand on my face, thumb lightly tracing my cheek and leaving a warm sensation on it. After a second, he said,

"I think ya look betta' grey."

"So I looked ugly before?"

"What! No! That's not what I meant!"

"So what did you mean?"

"I mean...tha'...damnit woman!"

"So that was what you meant!"

"No! Gnah, I try ta compliment ya an' this is what I get!"

"Aww, Bunny complimenting me? So you really did miss me."

"Less now than before!"

"What was that, Kangaroo?!"

"Bunny! I'm a bloody bunny!"

_-The Hallway-_

The three guardains watched, hidded in the hallway, as their friends began to bicker back and forth. Tooth sighed and smiled sweetly.

"I think our efforts aren't in vain. We have ten days to get these two to see it."She said quietly. Jack just sighed and shook his head as the two continued to go at it, chuckling as Sandy shrugged happily. Things were about to get crazy.

"Here we go again."Jack laughed, and they left the two.


	8. Painting, dancing, and almost-kisses

_This chapter, to be completely honest, is pure fluff. 100% pure fluff, and I greatly apologize if it bores you as I try to move the plot along to the more-important part 3 Enjoy the fluffiness. _

_-At the Pole- Black's p.o.v****_

"..."

"..."

"I got nothin'."I muttered, resting my chin on my palm, sitting at a large wooden desk with what seemed likke a mountain of toys piled up in front of me. A paintbrush lay limply in my hand, along with a massive amount of small paints that formed a perfect, rainbow-schemed line between Bunny and me. I was starring blankly at a small doll, her face and eyes needing to be painted in before handing it over to the yetis assembly line, where they were packaging, boxing, wrapping, and placing bows on the toys.

Bunny and I were supposed to be painting the remaining 70 toys before Christmas. It was a job that Jack, Sandy, and Bunny were supposed to do, but with Bunny and Jack in the mix things quickly got out of hand. Needless to say, we now had _170_ toys to re-do in nine days. Bunny was designated to toy-painting duty with me, while Sandy kept North's dreams peaceful just in case Pitch wanted to make a pathetic comeback. Though, after what happened, I had a feeling he would be out for a very, very long time.

Out of my own stroke of genius, I left Jack to take care of Tooth. To be honest, I could have chosen anyone and it would probably have been a better choice than Jack Frost, but I'd seen those two acting...suspicious lately, giving Bunny and I odd looks and whispering. I could come to only one logical conclusion. They had a crush on each other.

"Hmph?"Bunny grunted, fully enveloped in painting a small racecar. I looked over, chin still on my palm, and watched as Bunny's face creased in complete concentration. It had always been a shy habit of mine, one I would never admit to the Pooka, to just sit and watch him work. There was a strangely captivated way about how this rough, gruff guardian managed to make such light, delicate details into objects.

His eyebrows furrowed, eyes strained, body hunched as his hand moved slowly and smoothly, not even a shake in his steady hand. He added a final coat of red paint over the hood of the car before, suddenly, his eyes flickered over to me. I quickly jumped and looked away, thanking Manny that I no longer displayed a blush on my face anymore. Though my heart seemed to be beating way too fast as I tried to come up with a reasonable excuse to be watching him.

To be honest, my excuses for doing a lot of things around Bunny were running low in supply.

"You say somethin'?"He asked, and I quickly snapped to. I nodded and pointed frustratingly with the brush to the un-painted doll.

"I have no clue how to do this."I said seriously and quickly, Bunny giving an exasperated sigh. I glared over at him and defended, "C'mon, the whole painting this is you spiel!" He rolled his eyes, only proving to irritate me further, as he scooting right up next to me on the bench, reaching over and taking the doll from me. He held it on the table in front of us and dipped his paintbrush into a light peach color.

"Ya just gotta make it look real! That's all kids want, somethin' pretty and lovable."Bunny explained, as he slowly applied the peach color with such skill and precision that I was surpised it was even paint and not the doll's actual skin, not one brush stroke visible over the porclain face. I frowned and furrowed my brows, leaning back as I asked,

"Since when did kids get into porclain dolls again? Last I was around they were in style, but that was..let's see..900 years ago." Bunny didn't take his eyes from the doll as his concentration formed back on his face, almost as if he were going into a different world.

"Hm? Oh, was on s'm'ns list, dun'no 'bout style..."He mummbled, accent growing thicker until it was almost intelligable. Strangely, I felt my heart jump at it, listening to the low, gruff tone in his voice as his focus moved to art, my focus remaining on the Guardian of Hope as my mind began to churn. It had been one day since I had woken from my nightmares, and the events continued to play in my head.

I began to piece together pieces I hadn't previously considered, with the almost-silent work we were given and the threat of Pitch no longer looming over my head. He was still out there, but crippled, beaten. I had no doubt I'd see him again, and at that time I would finally put to rest his efforts at terror, but for now my mind was surprisingly clear. As I sat there, clear mind and conciounce, I thought...

Bunnymund was the one guardian who I felt the most shame and guilt towards when Pitch attacked the first time. He was the one I refused to fight, the one who hurt me the most by shunning me until we got to the Warren. It was the second betrayal of him that wounded me the deepest, as well. There was a time when I thought I'd never recover from that feeling of guilt, of pain over what I'd done. And then there was the fact that he chose me to be his understudy.

Now this might not seem like a big deal. But it was. A massive deal. A deal so enormous that it had taken me awhile to get used to the idea. Bunny worked in complete solitude, even more of an introvert before I'd gone to Pitch's side. He refused to let anyone put decorations on his eggs, allowing me and only me the honor of dipping the egglets in the ponds of color.

The mere fact that he had taken me on as a student to live and work with him meant something massive. He trusted me. Not just trusted me...he tolerated me. Bunny couldn't tolerate himself most of the time, let alone other people! And yet there here I was. Different. Special, if I dared use that word. And then there were the nightmares. Out of all my friends in the no-face dream, Bunnymund was the one who woke up. He was the one who's face looked down into mine and was able to break the fear from me, if only momentarily. He gave me that bunny that I'd absentmindedly modeled after him. The bunny that kept me safe and sane.

He'd been the only one who's touch registered through my fear-clouded mind. Before that, when we had fought, he was the only one who could have hurt me that deeply and then re-healed it with one, small hug. Everything he did, big or seemingly inconsequential, had major impacts on me. It was like...it was like he was such a major part of me that any slight variation changed everything. And it had. Bunnymund had changed everything.

So, really, this was his fault.

And, suddenly, another thought came to mind. A thought that, before I had imagined loosing him forever, I would have quickly shaken and ignored. Now, though, as I watched him, heart beating and tensing, stomach getting a weird, queasy feeling, the idea seemed...tempting. Bunnymund had almost, by my count, kissed me twice now. Almost.

Maybe I'd have better luck.

Without thinking, heart beat in my ears and pulse racing, I leaned into Bunny a bit, feeling his soft fur brush my arm, suddenly glad that I didn't have the cloak to block it anymore. Sensing the change, Bunny's ear perked up, pausing his work for a second. I took in a deep breath, not knowing what I was doing. No, I knew what I was doing. And it was crazy. Insain.

"...Bunny..?"I asked quietly, and he slowly set his brush down as he straigtend up, looking down at me curiously. My face burned, and I wondered if I could blush, afterall. I looked up at him and tilted my head to the side, curious as to how exactly he would react to this. And terrified. Curious and terrified.

I slowly reached a hand up, innocently combing the cheek fur through my fingers, relishing in how unnaturally silky it seemed to be. Bunnymund's eyes went a bit wider, jaw dropping open at the sudden touch, and in a moment I wondered if I shouldn't just stop now and bolt. That seemed a reasonable choice, and I begged myself to do just that... But I couldn't. I had to know. I had to see how this ended.

I was broken from my thoughts by a warm pelt of fur moving in closer. Shocked, I saw Bunnymund actually sliding his hand behind me on the bench, leaning against it as he slowly, slowly began leaning down towards me. I just watched, breathless, as his eyes shyly roamed over mine, void of his usual confidence and now timid, unsure. Blue fur brushed my arm and shoulder, my heartbeat clearly audible in my own ears as his mouth, which I'd never paid much attention to up until now, moved closer, wondering what it felt like, wanting to know.

I tilted my chin up a bit, eyes flashing between his eyes and his mouth, and in a moment, everything else faded away, dulling just as it had done at the party, when I was so sure, so absolutely sure and so absolutely terrified that he was going to...to...

"Bunny...?"

"HEY!" Manny Damnit! I yelped and jumped back, heart stopping as I fell backwards from my momentum and toppling head-first off of the bench, the sudden, excited shout of Jack Frost forever breaking the moment. I groaned, head aching from making contact with the stone floor beneath, looking up a bit to see Bunny splayed across the far-end of the bench, one foot hanging off and one hand on the table as he panted, eyes wide with shock and fear.

Jack floated innocently down to us, looking confused as he asked,

"Did I miss something? Why's Black on the floor?" I glared at him and snapped,

"Because you scared me half back-to-death!" He just laughed and shrugged, and for an instant I knew how Bunnymund felt around this kid. But the feeling quickly faded, along with the third-failed attempt, and I managed to get to my feet, Bunny grumbling something as he stood, as well. Jack's smile brightened as he exclaimed,

"Tooth's better! She can help now!"

If the kid wasn't so damn excited I would have smacked him out of the air right then and there. But, just as I was debating this, a blurr of green and gold zipped past me so fast that I stumbled back, Bunny quickly catching me as Tooth zoomed around like a bat out of hell, her babyteeth swarming behind her as she finally stopped and began shouting out orders like a short-order cook.

"Sector five, get to packaging! Sector seven to design! Babyteeth, get to work! Sector one I want you helping wherever you can! Ladies, go help box! Go go go! Christmas is in nine days! Let's move it!"She shouted out, her little birds zipping around the workshop as things got grinding, Yetis snapping from their shock as they and the little birds began working double-time.

It was a flurry of motion and energy, Bunny and I just standing there with our jaws hanging open, in complete shock at the sudden, caffeine-like rush as the workshop moved faster than it ever had before. Tooth shot over to us with a stern look, hands on her hips, as she said quickly,

"C'mon you two! Get to work!" We looked at each other for a second before, not knowing what else to do, shot to the bench and began painting, though sitting a bit closer than before...

_-Two hours later- Black's p.o.v***_

I hadn't realized I was humming to myself, possibly out of reflex from trying to relax after finally being released from the chaos downstairs to relieve Sandy of 'North duty'. There wasn't much to do other than make him hot chocolate to keep him from comletely passing out. So that's what I was doing, standing there and stirring the home-made hot coco into a mug the side of my face with a candycane, minding my own buisiness.

Until it came on the radio.

Now, I'd been gone 900 years. I wasn't up-to-date by any means in most aspects, but Jack had quickly adjusted my taste in music. He said it wasn't acceptable to not know who 'Johnny Cash', 'Shinedown', or 'Train' were. And so he gave me an Ipod jam-packed with songs that I hadn't taken a liking to at all.

Except for one. It was like my kryptonite. The second this song came on, I was thrown into a horribly demeaning display of singing and spinning around, luckily whenever Bunny wasn't around and I was in a secluded part of the Warren. Now, though, was no exception, especially not this close to Christmas. I spun around and felt my pulse pick up as the first notes of "Shake Up Christmas" by Train blasted out of the radio hooked up to the windowsill.

"Ho ho ho! Shake up the happiness!" Oh no... "Wake up the happiness! Shake up the happiness!" Damn, why was my center 'happiness'?! It made it that much harder to resist this song. Finally, as the beat picked up, I checked to make sure the door was closed as a feeling of happiness washed over me.

I spun and picked up the mug, stirring it as I began to singing to the song, a smile creeping onto my face.

"Once upon a time in a town like this, a little girl made a great big wish, to fill the world full of happiness, and be on Santa's magic list!"I began, moving my shoulders and spinning lightly as I danced around, grabbing ingredients for the coco as I sang along to the irresistably catchy tune. "Shake it up, shake up the happiness!" Damn I loved this song. I continued singing and dancing, grabbing ingrediants as I went along my jolly way...

_-In the Hall- Bunnymund's p.o.v****_

"Guys! You have to see this!"Tooth exclaimed, finally breaking from her evil slave master funk and dragging me and Frost begrudginly over to the kitchen, Sandy floating above Tooth and stifleing a laugh. I was curious, now, as I heard a song begin to bounce from the fraction-cracked door. Tooth faced us and placed a finger to her lips, floating up as we formed a kind of totem-pole of heads peeking into the room.

What we saw would make Manny himself fall out of the sky in shock. My ears flattened against my head and my eyes went wide, a collective jaw-drop amoungst all of us. Black. Black was dancing. And singing. To a Christmas song...poor thing must have suffered more mental trauma than I thought during those nightmares.

But, I had to admit...it was bloody cute. I found myself surpressing a smile as she did this little spin thing to grab another candycane to stir the mug, singing to the chorus as I soon realized why she liked this song.

"Shake it up! Shake up the happiness, shake up the happiness!"She sang happily, and the kid didn't have a half-bad voice. In fact, I felt kind of...warm, listening to it. And the smile could no longer be stifled, something welling up in my chest that I quickly realized was exactly what Black spread to those around her, whether be it by singing or playing tag. Happiness.

"A'right, get back ta work ya gumbies!"I whispered, turning to the others as they backed off, grumbling but complying. Jack flew off with Tooth, Sandy floating down to put some elves down for their nap as babytooth zoomed around, put in charge of the others. I smiled, not able to resist that welling of happiness inside me as I leaned back...

A hand gripped me and I was thrown around, a hand grasping my chest fur and giving me a steady, smooth glare.

"You ever spy on me like that again, and I'll have myself a new lucky rabbit foot."She threatened smoothly, before nonchalantly releasing me and moving around, carrying the steaming mug of hot coco with her as she walked down the hall, towards the infirmary. I watched after her a second, and then a small, almost unnoticable chuckled escaped me before I turned and walked down the stairs, muttering a small toon,

"Hm hm...shake up the happiness..."

_-That Night- Black's p.o.v****_

Jack gave me a wide smile and a wink, exclaiming,

"That's an awesome idea! I'll get right on it!"

"Get right on what?" I jumped as Bunnymund walked out of the shadow of the massive Christmas tree, me sitting on a cusioned sitting area in front of a massive window, Jack floating in front of me. I panicked for a moment, but Jack was cool and calm as he spun upside-down, saying teasingly,

"Noooothing! Just...secrets!"He got teasingly close to Bunny's scowling face as I rolled my eyes. I would almost prefer Jack to tell Bunny we were talking about his Christmas present idea than get the crap beaten out of him...almost. "Anywaysgottagoseeya!"He exclaimed in one long word, shooting off and leaving snowflakes fluttering down to the floor in his wake. I chuckled, turning and re-facing the window as snow fell gently outside.

There was a silence before Bunny took his designated seat beside me, his fur brushing against my bare upper-hip. We sat like that for awhile, just starring out into the cold as a fire roared behind us, a comftorble silence next to a giant rabbit with boomerangs and a grey girl. I saw an icicle hanging dangerously off the low roof above us outside and pointed a finger at it, shooting a shadow through the window without breaking the glass.

The icicle stabbed through the now-feet-deep mound of snow, getting lost from sight as Bunny chuckled.

"Damn I missed that."I said, smiling. And then Bunny asked something that caught me off-guard.

"So...Pitch's full name is Pitch Dark Night?" I looked at him for a moment, surprised, before slowly shrugging and muttering calmly,

"Hey, I didn't name him."

"So what's yer full name?"Bunnymund asked, and it struck me that I'd never told him my actual name. To be honest, I hadn't told anyone other than maybe Sandy, once, when I was little. At first, it was hard for me to pronounce without it sounding like a curse word. Then, by the time I'd grown my vocabulary skills, it was a name I wasn't necissairily proud of.

I was quiet for a moment. Yet another puzzle piece. I was fully willing to tell him something that almost no one else knew.

"Black As Night."I muttered quietly, and Bunny gave me a surprised look. I was confused for a moment, until I immediatly straightened and exclaimed, "AS! Not...not...no! A.S.! Manny wouldn't give me a name like...like...no!" I was clearly flustered, and to my increasing aggrivation, this made Bunny chuckle teasingly at me. If he didn't look so damned attractive right now, with the glare of snow to one side and soft light of fire to the other, I would have knocked that smirk off his face.

Instead, I slumped forward and grumbled,

"Better than _your_ name." He abruptly stopped and snapped, suddenly defensive,

"What about it?" I felt a smile prick on the corners of my lips and looked up at him, raising an eyebrow at his disgruntled state. I surpressed a laugh at the memory of when I'd leaned Bunny's true name. Everyone knew E. Aster Bunnymund. But, upon winning a bet against who could hide longer in hide-and-seek, I'd learned what the 'E' stood for.

"Oh, just wondering who would name their kid..._Edmund_ ."I teased, seriously in pain from surpressing the laughing fit caused by the widening of Bunny's eyes and the pure glare of hatred I recieved.

"Ye...ye...it's not a bad name! Better than Ass!" I immediatly snapped into a glare, not knowing my face was now inches from his as I snapped back,

"Not Ass! As! Freakin' Kangaroo!"

"That's it! Yer mine!"He exclaimed, and tackled me on the seat. I struggled and rolled, pressing him to the cold window as he let out a yelp at the sudden freezing temperature on his back through his fur. I laughed as he sprang up and shook himself, me seeing a thin layer of frost on his back, probably left over from Jack sudden, odd departure.

He tried awkwardly to reach back and brush the ice crystals from his fur, me rolling my eyes at his vain attempt and saying,

"Hold still, you'll only make it worse!" He paused, then brought his hands to his lap as I quickly trailed my hand down the thick fur on his back, breaking free the pieces of frost or melting them with my hands as the velvet fur began to warm up again. I sat back and nodded, "There."I said nodding, and he gave me...a look.

After awhile of this, I gave him a curious stare and asked,

"What?" He didn't break his gaze, eyes looking over my face slowly and smoothly, as if pondering something. I felt my stomach clench and I quickly looked away, muttering quietly, "Stop starring at me, what's wrong?"

"I almost thought I'd lost ya, ya know."He said, tone quiet and suddenly serious. I looked up at him and into his eyes, searching for any sign that this was some prank..but that was Jack's thing. No prank. Bunny's eyes were dead serious...and some part of me was glad. It was selfish, but I was happy that Bunny had been worried about me, that he had cared despite what we'd been through.

"Yeah, the hug kinda gave it away."I tried lightly, but Bunny remained serious, the light dancing across his bright green eyes and indigo tattoo-marks on his fur.

"No, kid. Really...it was bad...and all I could think was tha' the last thing I'd said to ya was...was.."He stopped and looked outside, his mood suddenly somber. I felt myself reach a hand out and hesitantly place itself on his paw, his eyes flashing to me as I looked outside, remembering that fight. That hurt that threatened to tear me apart, bit by bit, as I watched everything I'd built back up crumble. It would never leave me.

"...You wanna know a secret?"I asked, feeling embarrased for even considering telling him what was on my mind, what had been on my mind since I woke up. I felt his eyes on me as my eyes followed the slow, elegant trail of snow fall in the night sky, illuminated by Manny. I hung my head, making sure my face was sheilded by my hair as I mummbled quietly, "That bunny you handed me?...I had it in the nightmares."

"You did?" I nodded, and shrugged self-conciously.

"Yeah..it uh...it kinda kept me sane...before the stone helped me." I'd told everyone the story about what happened in leading me to breaking free from my nightmares, and after multiple 'stoned' jokes by Jack, it settled down. Bunny was quiet for a moment, and this time the silence was awkward. Very awkward.

"Well...I-I'm glad..."He muttered, and it was then that I realized something. I had to be narcoleptic. My eyelids drooped suddenly, not even realizing I was tired until now. My body was exauhsted from taking care of Tooth and North all last night.

And a fear gripped me again as I yawned, stifling it quickly. It sprung up irrationally and quickly in the back of my mind and I tried to shove it down, but it stuck.

"Tired?"Bunny asked in a voice that was low, creating a lulling sensation that I didn't want. I shook my head and said a little too quickly,

"No!" He paused, looking down at me curiously. I looked away, eyes straining to stay wide, drooping and body begging for sleep. But images flashed across my mind, and I tried to fource my self to wake up, to stay that way. I didn't want that again, even if it couldn't possibly happen, what if it did? What if I didn't come back this time? What if...

My thoughts were startled as I felt a strong arm wrap around me and pull me into a lap, me looking up surprised as Bunny scooted, resting his side on the cold window and holding me securely in his lap, arms wrapping protectively around me and pulling me close to a chest of soft fur covering developed muscle, warmth and confusion spreading over me. I looked up in surprise, seeing Bunny looking out the window in what he was trying to pass off as a nonchalant, tough look, but I could see the awkwardness and nervousness behind it.

"Bunny..."I said, fear gripping me again as I felt another wave of exauhstion hit me hard. I shook my head, trying to not sound like a child and failing miserably... "I...I don't want to go to sleep...what if-"

"It's not gonna happen, got it?"He interrupted, trying to sound collected though his voice wavered. I gave him a confused look, and he gulped visibly, accent thickening a bit, "I'm here...nothin's gunna h'rt ya, cuz I w'nt let it. Now sleep." I paused, unsure and feeling my face definitly heat up... I knew this shouldn't happen. Knew it was...odd.

But it was also right. And I wanted it. Everything, all of the puzzle pieces, this being one of them, were pointing to a picture I was too uneducated to notice. And, while the picture might not be complete yet, for the moment, I liked what I saw.

I finally relaxed, leaning down and nuzzling my face into Bunny's chest, the fur tickling my face a bit before I found a comftorble spot and curled up, pulling my knees up as Bunny's legs bent, surrounding me in fur and muscle and warmth. His paw wrapped up to my back and held it there, the other gently matting my hair in a soothing, rhythmic way.

I let myself fall asleep without fear. Because I had my bunny to hold onto when things got rough, when I got scared. And I did, lacing my fingers through his fur before closing my eyes, breathing slowing as my exauhsted body began to sink.

"That's right...I'm here, sheila. Sleep."He muttered into my hair. And, with a sense of protection and warmth wrapping me in a blanket of fur, that's exactly what I did.

_-The Overlook-_

"Awww! So cute!"Tooth exclaimed quietly, Sandy shh'ing her as he threw a few handfuls of sleepsand his friends' way, the particles dusting over them and finally sending Bunnymund into a sleep.

"But they didn't even notice it!"Jack whispered, exahspearated as he lay on his stomach with the others, peering through the overlook railing at their friends, a mistletoe hung clearly above their heads. The Guardian of Memories patted his head and said,

"It'll happen, we've still got eight days left until Christmas! And there's still presents to give everyone."Tooth winked and Jack Frost got a small blush, turning quickly away as frost formed on his nose.

"Great idea, Tooth."He whispered kindly, and she giggled giddily, her statement having another hint within it. Sandy gave them confused looks before shrugging, continuing to mold his friend's dreams into ones of each other, hoping to finally get the most stubborn couple in the world together.

But they weren't the only ones playing mistletoe, as Tooth got to her feet and fluttered down the hallway with Jack, leaving Sandy to grin and play matchmaker. This was going to be an interesting Christmas.

_-I completely made up Bunny's real 'E', since it was never mentioned anywhere that I could find. If you now it please tell me. I just though Edmund Aster Bunnymund was adorable. 3_


	9. Boomerangs and grey dolls

_-I apologize that there wasn't an update yesterday. My power went out, and when I finally got it back on the website that I type these chapters up on was updating their servers ALL DAY. Therefore, I hope you enjoy this one as much as I enjoy your wonderful reviews. I'd like to give a little extra thanks to Fanfictionaddicted4EVER and Iheart2896, even though I love you all equally 3 Enjoy-_

_-The Warren- Black's p.o.v****_

"Find it, don't eat it."I directed the five nightmares in front of me, all of whom were bowing their heads down to me, shaking their manes in a plea for affection. For the nightmares to ask for affection told me that Pitch must have been a whole new kind of bad to them, and the thought angered me. These things might have caused my catatonic state, but they had no choice but to obey their master. They were my only friends, if I could call them that, back when it was just Pitch and me.

I chuckled and gave each of them a good pet before sending them off, their whisps of shadows the only evidence that they had even been here. Just as they went off, I felt a little nudge on my ankle and I looked down, surprised to see an early little egglettte twittering about below me. I smiled warmly and knelt down, cupping my hands for it to jump into with its premature legs. It was eggs like this that would end up being smaller than the rest, and it meant that I was going to have the honor of assisting this little sucker in getting its base coat.

"Hey little thing, Bunnymund isn't here right now so I'll have to put your painting off until after Christmas, okay?"I reasoned quietly, and it threw itself into an unsatisfyed sitting position, wiggling about in dissapointment. I gave it a little, lopsided grin and leaned down closer, winking at it and whispering,

"I promise, you'll be the first one I paint, okay? Maybe Bunny will even let me put designs on you! Would ya like that?" It immediatly hopped to its tiny feet and jumped up and down excitedly, almost falling if I hadn't moved quickly to catch it. The enthusiastic little thing definitly wouldn't be hard to spot once I returned here, after the chaos of Christmas was over.

"Alright, go on now, you little ankle-bite-"I caught myself, eyes going wide. I did not just use Aussi slang. Now _that _ was a nightmare. I looked at the curious little egg and asked, "You wont tell him I said that, will you?" It gave a little shake, and I took that as a no, me smiling and giving it a quick peck before setting it on the soft grass, the little thing running clumsily away.

I sighed, standing up and looking around. Luckily, in our absence, the sentenial egg guards had kept the Warren in good shape, with the large, golumn-like creatures walking loudly about and patrolling the area. Nevertheless, it had taken a great amount of time to convince Bunny to stay and watch over North while I went to 'check up' on the Warren. In all reality, I couldn't have him tagging along, for the reason I was here was stricly confidential. In fact, only Jack knew my purpose here.

He had, of course, taught me how to do what I was about to do. That was what he considered his part in Bunny's present, haphazardly trying to teach me a technique that I had grasped about as well as Tai Chi. But Christmas was tomorrow, and there was no time left to perfect this. I just hoped I didn't make things worse in the process. I turned and walked quietly around the Warren, the warm air comforting after the biting chill around the North Pole.

The soft grass barely made a sound as the nightmare barreled out of the tree line, whinneying and raising up on its hind legs before dropping back down excitedly. I nodded, smiling and walking into the familiar path of tropical-like trees, the nightmares gathering behind me and quickly dissipating in shadows. Once I'd reached the end of the path, a small little opening appearing and bringing back a quick, sour memory, I spotted my goal immediatly.

It was truley a sad sight to behold, and for a moment I felt a crushing sadness. Slowly, I walked over and began to collect the sad, broken shards of boomerang from the grass, some of the pieces large, others barely a splinter. I was sure that I'd missed some, but a majority of it should suffice...or at least I hoped. I plopped down in the grass, sun beating down on my exposed shoulders as I began the world's most infuriating jigsaw puzzle.

Well, not the most. The one that Bunny and I were involved in, now that was beyond frustrating. In fact, I suppose you could make some clever metaphore out of this present, all of the intracate little details, me missing some of them, fitting together like a broken bond, as I tried to...mend? Yes, yes that seemed to be a good word.

Once the boomerang had been put into a pathetic-looking, half-falling-apart piece, I took a deep breath. If this worked, it would be the greatest present I could think of giving him. This was such an important part of him, his boomerangs. They were a symbol of his lost ancestors, the only thing he could use to hold onto them. And it shattered while he was trying to protect me. It seemed only fair that I try to give it back.

I carefully, so as not to crumble the already-unstable weapon, placed a tentative finger on the largest piece of the item and took in a deep, deep breath. Jack's voice rang through my mind, when we'd practiced by molding a block of ice back together. Then, it seemed easy enough. Now, though, I was having my doubts. _'Take a breath, close your eyes, and focus all of your energy onto what you want most from it'_ Okay, breathe. Check.

Close eyes. Check. I focused, feeling a ball of energy in my chest begin to whell up, swirrling around me and filling me until it spread like ink over my arms, tingling down my hands as I placed both my palms over the shards of wood, abdomen tight and eyes squeezing shut as I concentrated. I wanted it to ment itself. Go back to new, like Jack had done with his staff.

I wanted it to be whole, sleek and strong, just like it had been built.

"C'mon...C'mon..."I whispered as the energy built up, swirrling inside me, until, suddenly, in a massive burst, I felt it spring from my palms and envelope the Boomerang in shadows, my body tensed with energy as I continued repeating, over and over, that I wanted it mended, placed back together like it was before...

I peeked one eye open, gazing down. And immediatly sighed.

"Well, I just gave myself a brain anurism for nothing."I muttered bitterly, shaking the tenseness from my brain as I glared down at the still-shattered boomerang. _'C'mon, don't give up!' 'Okay, just give it another try! I had to go at it a few times before I managed to fix this old thing!' _ Jack's words of encouragment were the only things prodding me to place my hands on the item again, biting my lip as I tried to think of a stronger way to mend this.

Shadows didn't tend to be good for anything but destroying and cloaking. To fource them to go against their nature was something I didn't seem to be the master at... Then again, I was the Boogeyman's little sister, and yet here I was, protecting children and their belief in Christmas and, quite litterally, the holiday spirit. So another go wouldn't kill me.

Once again, I closed my eyes and thought long and hard, the energy building up on its own. My mind swam in fourteen different directions, branching off on a multitude of different events that had occured over the past nine months. I let it wander, thinking, branching, focusing, and as I followed each little train track that my mind switched off onto, every trail of event seemed to form back together, cohesively focusing all of my energy on one thing.

Tai Chi. More specifically, a Tai Chi lesson. Warm paws on my waist. A boomerang. Bickering. Attacking. Falling. Warm fur, beautiful green eyes glittering in the light, different shades of blue fur. Increased heart rate, pulse in my ears, a nausious twisting of my gut that I couldn't seem to shake, and a feeling, a _good _ feeling, in my chest. No longer vunerable, but something else entirely...

_Crack._

I jolted from my thoughts at the sound of cracking, immediatly looking down at my palms as the last of shadowy whisps danced across the spring-green grass, and my chest lightened, a smile fourcing its way onto my face and I felt myself laugh in victory. There it lay, smooth and shining in the sun, a perfectly and masterfully crafted boomerang, sharp edges and un-painted lines and decorations along the ends.

I slowly picked it up, as if afraid it would break again. Tenderly holding it, though somewhere deep, deep down inside me knew, for a fact, that it would never break again, no matter how much pressure it was put under. It was there to stay.

Now to break into Bunny's room and steal his paint and brushes.

_-North Pole- Bunnymund's p.o.v****_

_"_ Soooooooooo."Jack mused in a sing-song voice, twirrling around me as I broke from my concentration, painting intracate lines in the eyes of a small, delicate doll. I growled, my fur standing up at the sound of the little gumby, my grunt his only answer. I should have known he would press on until I asked what he wanted, but at the moment I was too busy to listen to his bloody game.

"Oy, kangaroo!"He shouted, and I was appauled at the mutilation of the accent from my homeland. I snapped a glare over at the winter spirit, floating behind my shoulder with his stomach balanced on his staff, eyes dreamily starring at the doll.

"What the bloody hell makes ya think I'll answer ya if ya talk like tha', ya gumby!"I cursed, and he gave me an annoyingly sly grin.

"You just did, mate." Did..did he just wink? Did that bloody wanker just _wink _ at me?! Whatever kept Black sain when she dealt with this kid was clearly absent in me, as I tried to take a swing at his face in hopes of whiping it clean, only to have the lithe little thing dive away, spinning and still laying on his stomach until he was in front of me, giving the doll a curious look.

"Hmm...can I ask you something, Cottontail?"He asked curiously, and I begrudginly went back to painting, hoping to drone out most of him as I complied,

"Wha'?"

"Why wont you tell Black you like her?"

I choked on whatever non-existant liquid was in my throat and looked incredously up at the Guardian of Fun, glad I hadn't smudged anything on the doll's face in the process of computing what he had just asked, in all innocence. There wasn't even a tricky little glint in his eye, just an honestly curious face. Now Jack being annoying I could easily deal with, and that's what he was usually doing when he brought up a rather sensitive subject.

But Jack asking a serious, down-to-Earth question? Now that was something I wasn't too used to. That, coupled with his bloody unanswerable question, rendered me speechless. After a few moments of trying to find the words to explain to a 300-year-old child that things weren't as simple as writing a note that said 'like me? check yes or no', he looked up at me with another mischevious smile and said in an excited tone,

"You're scared, aren't you!"

"No!"I immediatly defended, but he already had that look about him that knew otherwise. And, to be honest, he was right. I was bloody terrified. But let me ask you: How would ya feel if ya had ta admit apparently-hundred-year-old feelings to the Boogeyman's little sister? Don't seem so silly now, does it? But that wasn't even half of it.

There was also the annoying little habit that people had of breaking in the second before I would have let my actions speak braver than my words.

"Don't worry Bunny, everyone gets scared! Even of skinny girls with the inability to pick up on social cues."Jack teased lightly, and my glare intensified, but before I could throw in a comment(or a well-deserved fist), the little bludger went on. "Have you gotten her a Christmas present yet?" Once again, I was rendered speechless.

No. No in fact, I hadn't. Every year I tended to make everyone their own, decorated egg. It was bloody easy and heartfelt, passing for a typical Christmas present while giving a slight jab at North about his second-to-Easter holiday. And everyone's eggs were already made and prepared...everyone's except one. Because every year before this, Black had been my best mate, excluding the darkened time when I tried to drop her from my life for good. Because every year I'd made her one with a small inside joke, one with shadows painted on it, things like that.

But this wasn't every year. This was a year that had changed my life completely. Therefore, this year had to be something special...unfortunatly, I was stumped as to what.

"Hey, maybe some mistletoe?"Jack prodded once again, and I gave him an incredolous look. How dare he...wait. Wait. Wait a bloody second. He...he knew?! I hadn't picked up on it, mind occupied with giving answers to his abrupt questions, but... My eyes widened and quickly shot a hand forward, dragging his face close to mine by his hoodie, him barely balancing on his staff as I quickly growled,

"How much do ya know, Frostbite?"

A light playfulness danced over his face and he gave a smooth smile, saying,

"More than you do." And suddenly I froze, ears shooting all the way up as I thought of all the times I'd seen the kid talking to Black, always wondering exactly what it was they were talking about... I pulled him closer and he pulled back, exclaiming, "Woah man, save it for Black!"

"Listen here, ya little date, yer gonna tell me wha' ya know or so help me I'll shove a boomerang so far down yer throat you'll-"

"Woah woah woah!"Jack exclaimed, holding up his hands and still smiling, pulling out of my grasp but remaining close to me with a wicked smirk, pantomiming zipping his mouth shut and throwing away the key, "That's against the girl-code." My fur stood up on my back as I lunged for the winter spirit, but he was too fast and immediatly spun away, throwing over his shoulder,

"Like the doll! Nice...color scheme!"

I immediatly looked down at the doll that I had tried to focus on painting, and immediatly felt a heat spread across my face. It was grey with golden, yellow eyes.

I then promptly slammed my face onto the table and remained there until Tooth announced a lunch break.

_-North Pole- Black's p.o.v****_

"Ahh, candy canes."North muttered as I finally coaxed him into the very back seat of the sleigh, Sandy shooting to his side to create a dream-sand seatbelt for the still-delirious North. Tooth was shooting around, making sure that all of her faries had counted all of the toys and loaded them into the individual red sacks that we all carried, each over-sized and weighing what felt like a hundred pounds.

I looked around, making sure that everything was ready. Phil the yeti was prepared to open the gate in front of us, elves crying and waving hankies at us as if we were leaving for good, Jack struggling to fly with his back slung over his shoulder, dipping in the air as he growled something about how unfair it was that he had nothing to hold his bag like Sandy, Tooth and I, Sandy using his sand cloud, Tooth her too-eager faries, and me the shadows.

"Hey, maybe that means that you and Bunny will be neck-and-neck in this little race of ours."I coaxed, both males perking up at the word 'race'. I grinned inwardly, the excitement of it all rushing in on me as everyone neared exit time, midnight just a minuet away, everyone running around and shouting to make sure that everything was in order.

The first Christmas where North wasn't delivering toys, and we needed all the help we could get. If that meant sicking them on the world like they had been when they were collecting Tooth's teeth, then that was a risk I was willing to take. Besides, last time it had looked like fun and I'd missed out.

"Yep, how 'bout this,"I coaxed, all eyes on me as I stood on a cloud of shadows, the bag placed next to me as I sneakily shifted my hands out a bit. "Whoever delivers all the toys the fastest gets to open their presents first?" Jack's eyes lit up like a child's and he jumped up and down in the air, Bunny getting a sneaky, smoldering look on his lips. Sandy clapped excitedly. Tooth cheered. North talked about turtles with tophats.

"Midnight in five, four,"Tooth counted down, Sandy jumping to the front of the sleigh, in charge of North. Things tensed, Bunny's foot poised to tap, Jack ready to shoot out the front gate with Tooth and Sandy. "Three-" I cut her off by shouting,

"Twoone!" I quickly spun around and dissapeared, the shadows swallowing me to the loud protests of the others. I smiled to myself, appearing somewhere over Europe as I immediatly shot into a house designated on my map that Tooth had drawn out for us all. A feeling of adrenaline filled me, and for a moment, as I quickly hopped into chimenys and left toys all wrapped up and glossy for the first few houses, something else filled me.

Joy. Wonder. Happiness. And this race was about to get a hell of a lot more of each of them, especially after I spied Bunny hopping down a chimney near Whales and shot a burst of shadow through the open window, igniting the fireplace and sending a loud yelp out across the air.

May the games begin.


	10. Saving Xmas

_-I will attempt to upload the final chapter on Christmas(or Festivus if you're a Seinfeild fan) day, as a present to each and every one of you who has been so supportive of this story. I love you all from the bottom of my heart and up-_

_-Somewhere Over India- Black's p.o.v****_

"EDMUND ASTER BUNNYMUND!"I shouted, head poking up out of a rabbit hole that 'spontaniously appeared' over where I had been standing, hearing a chuckle above me as he knelt down, me wiggling as hard as possible to get not only myself, but also the half-empty bag of toys in my hand, free from the trap. His eyes glittered a bit as he gave me a lopsided smirk, placing a finger to his lips as he whispered,

"Keep it down, mate. Don't wanna wake the ankle bita's!" I nodded my head quickly, a shadow shooting from my hair and knocking him clean out of the open window. After a few minuets of struggling, I managed to dislodge myself and the bag from the hole, spinning and letting the black whisps wrap around me before the kids could run out to see what the scream was about.

I landed somewhere in what appeared to Asia, but I couldn't be quite sure. Stopping for a second on top of a large building, looking down at all of the neon, flashing signs and the eccentric clothing of the teenagers below me, I sighed and muttered,

"900 years can change a lot." I stopped wasting time, ducking into four houses before spying a spiral of ice over a few hundred yards, seeing Jack skidding across with an uncomftorbly-light-looking bag slung cooly over his shoulder, smiling in victory. I paused, standing on an ornate rooftop before getting a brilliant idea.

I quickly snuck a shadow over to the chimney he was about to head-dive into, the shadow completely blacking out the top of the chimney before Jack could stop himself, his eyes going wide as he called out, hitting the shadow and bouncing hundreds of feet back up into the air, making a silent indent as he passed through a cloud. I smirked and shouted up,

"Hope you liked the trampoline effect! Merry Christmas Frostbite!"

"Zat es my line!"I gasped, ducking as the sleigh flew inches above me through the air, the wind whipping my hair around as I immediatly stood up, eyes wide as a very-concious North waved back at me, along with a smug-looking Sandy. I stomped my foot and let out a puff of annoyance.

"Greeeat. He's back."I deadpanned, and immediatly set off again, sights set on Tokyo.

_-England- Bunnymund's p.o.v****_

"Oof! Guess ya asked fer a bloody pile o' bricks, ya little bugga's."I muttered as I slung the heaviest of the presents under a massive Christmas tree, glad for the pressure release on my shoulder. This would cut my time in half, making up for lost time when Black got me back for that 'fireplace' incident earlier in the year. I stood up and crossed my arms, smiling as confidence rose in my chest.

"Ha! Let's see her beat me now!"

"Yes, let's." Came a teasing, smooth voice beside my head, and I spun to see a sly-smirking Black appearing on the back of the couch near me, arms crossed as I secretly spied her almost-empty bag laying next to her on the ground. I felt a little spark of comptetition ignite in me again, remembering all those races(that I won) way back when, both of us giving the same, confident smirks we were giving now.

Not much had changed. I walked slowly over to her, leaning close and saying with a raised eyebrow,

"Shouldn't ya be stuck in a hole somewhere, sheila?" She gave a shrug and a sigh, looking more mischevious than I'd ever even seen Jack, a giddy smile playing on her calm features, leaning in closer to me and making me acutely aware of her breath on my nose, remaining in my calm facade.

"Maybe...well I gotta be going!"She said suddenly, dissipating from in front of me and re-appearing at the windowsill in a flurry of shadows and darkness. I spun to her and pointed a boomerang in her direction, exclaiming,

"What makes ya think I'll let ya?" To that, she gave a subtle wink that did things to my heart that I'd rather not admit, and then threw over her shoulder,

"Oh, just...I think _someone _ must have let the dog out." I froze, hearing a familiar growl behind me, all of my fur standing on end and my prey-animal instincts shooting up through my nerves, telling me to move slowly as my ears stood on end. Slowly, slowly, I turned around, seeing a rather hungry-looking, adult greyhound snarling up at me, bearing all of her canines.

"Shh, don't wanna wake the ankle-biters!"She mocked back at me, before I heard a whoosh of her leaving, the dog immediatly standing up taller and pupils dilating.

"..Crikey."I deadpanned, before making a run for my bloody bunny life, cursing Black the whole time.

_-Chile- Black's p.o.v****_

I placed the final south-of-the-border present under a modest tree, smiling as I looked at the little stuffed animal bunny that the child had asked for, looking nothing like mine, but making me smile all the same and reminding me that I had to make sure Jamie's house was the last stop on my list. I had a little something to give Sophie. I jumped to the widowsill, almost toppling back over as a blurr of green-and-yellow shot past me like a peacock on crack, flailing my arms and grabbing the edges of the window as Toothiana and her little baby teeth fluttered about.

I was about to aim another trampoline-shadow their way, when a massive clump of snow hit me in the back hard enough to make me fall forward and sink into the 4-foot-deep mound of snow beneath me, growling angrily as the cold seeped into my skin. I threw myself out, looking up as I was still waist-deep in the snow to see a cockily-smiling Jack Frost, leaning out of the window I had just been in, throwing a snowball up-and-down lazily.

I huffed in embarrasment and shook the snow from my hair, only to get another snowball to the face.

"FROST!"I shouted, throwing my arm up as a flash of shadows shot up, Jack dodging out of the way just in time to avoid my attack, by not the sudden ball of golden sand that hit him smack in the face. I gasped and laughed out loud as Jack's eyes rolled up and he fell over the windowsill and right next to me in the snowmound, sleeping soundly.

I looked up and gave Sandy a wink, which he returned, a little payback for saving him from one of Bunny's boomerang-trip-wire attacks. I looked down at Jack, curled up and snoring softly, and thought for a moment, aloud,

"I should help him...Oh look, my next stop's Hawaii!" I immediatly gripped my map in my hands and dissapeared, heading for somewhere at least mildly warm.

_-Burgess- _

"Out of my vay!"

"Not on ya life, ya old date!"

"Oh, Babytooth, hurry up! We're almost there!"

"Coolest guy on Earth coming through! S'cuse me, Cottontail!"

"Frost! I'll give yer 'dashingly-good-looks' a shina'!"

"Sandy! Move! Ve vont let anyone show up Santa Clause!"

"Haha! Made it!"

"No way, I'm here!"

"Move, you're crowding the window!"

"Watch it! You're ruffling my feathers!"

"Oi, watch it ya gumbies! Haha, told ya all I'd make it in first..."

I raised an eyebrow, Jamie giggling and yawning as Sophie crawled over my lap, reaching for the red bag next to me as I sat on the bed indian-style. Bunny's face fell in shock, the others clamoring in and arguing, only to have their comments drowned out by the scene. I couldn't help the smile that fourced its way onto my face, a feeling of victory welling up inside me as I winked at the shocked guardians.

"What took you guys so long? Poor Jamie here's been up for half an hour with me waiting for you!"I exclaimed teasingly, Bunny dropping his boomerang in pure shock with his jaw hanging down, North's head dropping shame as Toothiana laughed and Sandy huffed, Jack immediatly walking over and plopping down on the bed, apparently still fighting Sandy's sand effects. Jamie laughed and pulled a cover over him, tucking in the poor winter spirit as Sophie struggled more in my arms.

I laughed and said,

"Okay, okay! Hold on, you have to close your eyes!" She immediatly sat back and closed her eyes, squeezing them shut for emphasis as I reached into the almost-empty bag, pulling out the very last present. I saw Bunny straighten up a bit in my periphrial vision, hiding the heat on my face as I leaned down and placed the toy in Sophie's outstreached hands.

"Open!"I exclaimed, and she looked down, gasping loudly and then letting out the most excited, joyful squeal I'd ever heard. I beamed, a warmth filling me as she hopped up and down, shaking the identical bunny in her arms as the one that I pulled out of my shadows, showing it to her and saying happily, "Now we match! I owed it to you, you helped me out little Sophie-bear." I tickled her nose with mine and she let out another excited squeal, hopping up and down.

She pointed to Bunny, who immediatly melted into one of those smiles that made my heart jump into my throat, Sophie exclaiming,

"Easter Bunny, hop hop hop!" He chuckled lightly and was about to say something, but Sophie pointed to me with her other arm and exclaimed, "Tag! Tag!" North let out some booming laughter and exclaimed,

"Ah, little one knows well!" I felt my face heat up again and I starred at Sophie wide-eyed as she continued to hop in my lap and point.

"Do I get to open my present, too? Huh Jack?!"Jamie exclaimed, Jack groggily sitting up and handing him a small, red box that I knew contained a snowglobe of Jamie sledding down the street. I wanted to see him open it, glad for the distraction, when I heard footsteps behind us on the stairs.

"Sandy, parents! Sleep sand, now!"I whispered, and he nodded, Jamie and Sophie pouting. I winked down at them and placed Sophie next to Jamie on the bed, Bunny not-so-nicely tugging Jack from the bed as the winter spirit made a loud 'bang' on the floor.

"We'll visit again soon, Merry Christmas you two."I whispered, smiling at their smiles and kissing them each on the forehead, Sophie returning the gesture. I was about to leave, Sandy pulling sand up between his hands and the footsteps drawing closer, the others already at the window and prepared to leave, when Sophie held up her bunny doll and exclaimed,

"Kiss kiss! Kiss kiss!"

My jaw dropped and I could have sworn I heard Jack snort with laughter, Sophie's eyes wide and bright. I swear, the kid knows more than she lets on. I wanted to melt away right then and there, but the look on Sophie's face was too genuine, too happy and magical with Christmas cheer to crush by saying no. So, I leaned forward and quickly placed a peck on the toy's nose, leaning back just in time for Sandy to hit both of them with sleep-sand.

I stood quickly, facing Bunny. Our eyes locked for a moment, my stomach flipping and heart jumping until we both quickly looked away, coughing awkwardly and jumping onto the windowsill, bumping shoulders as we soared into the air, Bunny quickly falling onto the sleigh below us, Jack shooting past me with Tooth close to him.

"Ho ho ho! Merry Christmas!"North exclaimed, Jack teasing back,

"What did you just call me?" I laughed, jumping from my shadow cloud as Sandy beckoned me down, airborn for a moment, bracing myself for impact onto the sleigh...

A pain shot up my ribs and I called out, cringing as I felt myself gripped tightly and thrown through the air. The sudden impact after a few, slow seconds of ice-cold air knocked the wind out of me, hearing shouts above me from my friends, their image not viewable beyond the halo of trees above me, my vision blurry from impact. I groaned, head lurching as I rolled painfully over onto my stomach, seeing a lash of shadow dissipate in front of me weakly.

My heart dropped, the pain in my ribs shooting up again as I pushed myself up to my elbows. My breath caught. But just for a moment.

"..Pitch."I spat, anger and shadows flaring around me as he stood there, glaring at me with a hatred I'd yet to see, making his eyes flicker and mouth contort in a snarl. But he looked anything but menecing. Standing uneasily on the slightly snow-dusted lake that Jack called his 'home', he was panting heavily, arm wrapped around his torso from where I'd wounded him last time we met, body lurched forward and tired-looking, beaten down.

Pitch was down, but he didn't want to be out. I could assist that. I slowly pushed myself up to my feet, starring at the brother I was convinced had abandoned all previous bonds towards me, and feeling a pang of pain and hurt. This man that was once strong. Once had meant the world to me. Deduced to this?

I dropped the red back in my hand, a shadow snaking around my wrist. Pitch saw it, and I saw...something. Something flash across his face that I couldn't quite catch, something along the lines of pain or guilt. But I had to be mistaken. Pitch didn't feel guilt, not one ounce, in all the time I'd known him.

"Do you really this to end this way?"I asked, kicking the bag away and taking a step forward as the sounds of my friends echoed near me, a loud crash and shouts. I remained trained on Pitch, who didn't even seem to notice the oncoming guardians. Instead, he remained looking at me, breath hitching as he cringed. He was weakened from the evil he had done to me. He had hurt me. Hurt my friends. Turned on me. Lied. Cheated. Injured. Corrupted. Endangered. I hated him.

And I hated a small part of me that still ached when he tried to take a step forward and almost fell flat, instead weakly catching himself with his other foot. The trees moved with the sounds of my friends. Of the people I loved. Of those that fought for me even when I went against them. I betrayed them and they still loved me, even though they had no obligation to. They loved me unconditionally.

And in this moment, seeing my seething older brother who had taken care of me a good majoraty of my life, part of me aching towards him, I had to wonder...

"...Why?"I hated how my voice hitched a bit, as if I were about to cry when really it was from all of the hurt suddenly welling up inside of me. All of the good memories breaking at this one scene, playing out like a bad soap opera. Pitch's eyes flickered up to me a bit, straightening and cringing. I felt myself being to shake, asking myself a question that I didn't realize I was asking out loud. "Why?"

He remained silent, panting, just looking at me. No response, just a dropped scowl in place of a pained frown. No. He had done too much. He had hurt too much. He had hurt _me_ too much, to just remain silent and let me send him permanently back to where I had lived for 900 miserable years. And all of the emotion, all of the questions, frustrations, tears and pain, bundled inside of me. He was my big brother. I was supposed to protect him. He was supposed to protect me. I couldn't believe that that bond had been a lie.

I couldn't believe it. So I had to know.

"Damnit Pitch!"I shouted, his eyes going wide at my outburst, the words pouring from me like a waterfall, "Why! Tell me WHY! After everything we'd been through, after all that we did, you can't even tell me?! You hurt me, you betrayed me, you made me vunerable, you tried to take away the only people that every truley loved me, and all for what?!

"That's what I want to know, Pitch!"I screamed, unaware of the quiet 'crack' below my feet through my haze of emotions and pain, voice cracking as I finally shouted, "All of this! All of this pain, these nightmares, this fear! Tell me! Was it all worth it?!"

My voice caught in my throat and I silenced, my own breathing now heavy and burdened as his was, teeth clenched to prevent more words from spilling from my mouth. I'd said all I needed to know. And I was going to get an answer. After everything that had happened, I deserved one.

Pitch was silent again, for just a second. His breathing even out and his eyes locked onto mine, his jaw tight and face a mix of angry and...and something else. I expected any number of excuses to come from him. Expected him to say that if he could achieve his goal, then it was worth it. Yes. Yes it had been. Yes-

"No."

My eyes widened, my breath caught, trying to understand what I'd just heard. Pitch's face was loathing. Self-loathing. Hatred. Panting again and hand dropping from his chest and shaking his head a bit, whispering quietly, darkly,

"No, it wasn't."

"Pit-" _**CRACK!**_

I gasped, the ice beneath me spiderwebbing out violently and heaving below me, Pitch's eyes going wide as I looked down, panic blocking out any means of escape. I couldn't form one in time, anyway. Jack and Bunny's voices ripped from the trees to my side, screaming,

"NO!"

"Black-!"

And then there was nothing but muffled water. A cold so sharp in bit me to the core. A darkness deeper than any I had ever known. And a silence more chilling than any nightmare could offer.


	11. The Guardian of Happiness

_-To all of you who supported this story, I cannot thank you enough. You are amazing writers and people and I'm glad I got the chance to write this for you. Happy Holidays!-_

_-Black's p.o.v***_

_ 'I'll protect you.'_

_'Join us.'_

_'I'm not scared of you.'_

_'Tag, tag!'_

_'After all this time, yer still scared a tha' dark?'_

_'I do.'_

_'Guardian Trainee?'_

_'We care about ya, kid..'_

_'That's my sheila.'_

_'Aww, look, I made a snowbunny!' _

_'Uh, I was jus' wonderin'...if ya wanted ta dance...'_

_'Mistletoe, now who would put that there?'_

_'Black, wait!'_

_'Jamie, get Sophie out of here now!'_

_There would be an end..._

_'PITCH DARK NIGHT!'_

_'I thought I lost ya, just give me a bloody second ya gumby!'_

_'Kiss kiss, kiss kiss!'_

_'Was it all worth it?'_

_'...No.'_

__ The words stopped. Darkness was thrown off harshly like blankets on a cold winter morning, a new chill stinging my skin. I felt a light on my face, hands rapidly pulling me, ghosting across my face, panicked and shaking. A voice, calling down, somewhere up above me. More voices, all shouting.

And then air.

My eyes snapped open as I greedily took in the biggest lung-full of air possible, only to have it get stuck as I choked, turning my head over and coughing up water onto the ice, chest wheezing and ribs creaking from the cold, like metal joints, my entire body numb.

"Black! Shit, speak to me!"Jack's desperate voice called down, and I managed to lift up my heavy skull and take in my surroundings through hazed eyes. At first, all I saw were five blurry figures off to my left, all kneeling over me, one floating, just blurbs of colors and movement. Slowly, though, my vision corrected itself, and the images around me sharpened until my friends came into focus, memories swarming back into me.

The ice. I fell through. The looks on my friends faces were enough to tell me how sudden the fall had been, their faces still caught between looks of shock and worry. Tooth had her hands over her mouth, eyes wide as babytooth shot about, trying to get a better look. Sandy was floating above her, looking down at me with wide, concerned eyes. North was panting, his face never more terrified than it was now, forehead wrinkles and eyes wide. Though two of them looked the worst out of the whole bunch.

Bunny and Jack were both visibly shaken, hair wild and faces creased with worry, Jack looking like he'd seen a ghost, Bunny looking like he had turned into one. They were panicked, because I had fallen through. Closest to me because they had gotten there first out of all the guardians. The most concerned. But...someone had pulled me out. I remember the hands, grasping and pulling. But...they were both dry.

And then I realized that someone else, someone soaked to the bone and shaking like a leaf, someone with familiar hands, was holding me in their lap and panting heavily. Slowly, I turned my head. I looked up. My eyes widened.

"...Pitch?"I asked, seeing his composure completely dropped. What was normally a dark, smooth, angry cowl was now panicked and creased, eyes wide and shooting all over my face, flickering from one side to the other as if making sure I was really there. He was panting, mouth opened slightly, a lock of hair plastered to the side of his face, the others still spiked back but curved down and dripping. Streaks of ice-cold water ran down his temples and neck, cloak clinging to him as he shook, though the cold didn't seem to bother him. Nothing seemed to faze him right now, other than me.

This was a look I hadn't ever seen in Pitch. I'd seen anger. I'd seen bitterness. I'd seen malichiousness, evil, spite, victory, power, betrayal. But not once, in my uncountable years of existance, had I ever seen him...shaken. Visibly and physically shaken to the point where I didn't know if he were shaking because he were terrified or cold. All I knew was that the sight had stunned me into complete silence, the only thing ringing through my mind were his last words to me.

"No. No it wasn't."He said, as if reading my mind, his voice shaking almost as bad as his body, hitching in some places. Concern gripped my heart, and everything that had happened was whiped out. I was concerned about him. He was shaking, he was cold, he was suffering. He had saved me. He was my big brother, damnit, and I was worried.

"Pit-"

"No."He interrupted harshly, shaking his head and clenching his teeth, the self-hatred etching back onto his face as he went on, still shaking enough to rattle me as he remained with his death-grip on my upper body, a hand behind my head and the other around my arms. "It wasn't worth it. I wanted it to be, and at a time it was. I wanted to be believed in, I wanted to be feared. Fear gave me power, without it I was nothing. I wanted the entire world to bow to me, to defeat the Guradians and become the most destructive ruler, the one that everyone knew and feared and obeyed...

"I just didn't know that the cost was not only the downfall of the Guradians, not just their defenses and offenses fighting back against me. How could I? It all seemed to perfect, planned methodically out to the very last detail...but something went wrong. Something I hadn't taken into consideration..."He paused, panting, no longer looking at me, but at the others, who all stood there as if unsure of what to do. Pitch was their enemy, but his words sounded so...bitterly truthful. He had just saved me.

They were giving him a word. And that's all he needed.

"Do you want to know why the nightmares left so quickly? Why it took barely anything to rid them from my mind?"Pitch asked, voice steadier and lower. Bunnymund narrowed his eyes, the others tensing. Pitch took the silence as his answer, and I felt his body relax, his shoulders slump forward as he looked slowly down, purposefully avoiding my eye contact.

A loud silence. And then.

"Because, by the time you'd sent them on me, I'd already lived my very worst nightmare."He said, with an edge of regret and bitterness in his tone. I felt myself give a confused look, my heart pounding slowly, slowly in my ears, until he finally met my eyes again. His face was dark, slack, hair a mess and soaking wet, still shivering slightly. Defeated. A man who tried to rule the world and ended up destroying everything he loved.

"Because my very worst nightmare was, and always has been...losing you."

And suddenly he wasn't the Boogeyman anymore. Suddenly, he wasn't the King of Nightmares. That all peeled away. All of the hardness, the granite, the shadows, the nightmares, the fear, the power, the greed, the hate, the evil...it all fell away. And few would believe, even less would be able to envision, that in this moment, Pitch Dark Night finally looked like my big brother.

The one that loved me. The one before this whole mess started, before he even thought about turning on the guardians. Before the dark ages. When it was both of us. He was a man without a care in the world, keeping nightmares under control beside Sandy. Just a man. My big brother.

And it was tragic. Because he looked like my big brother, but my big brother as a broken, regretful man who had made one mistake that cost him everything. It was truley tragic. Two siblings who could have lived in peace, who could been quite the team. Now they had taken everything that they could out of the other.

"So no, if that's what your asking. It wasn't worth it. None of it was, if I could have kept you, the one part of my life that didn't turn into a nightmare."Pitch finally breathed, and I paused. I paused, and I thought. And once I was done thinking, I moved, slowly, body no longer shaking from my icy dip. My cold, grey hand found its way to his face, looking my big brother in the eye. Remembering everything that had happened in just a short span of time.

And I slapped him.

"Oh!"Tooth exclaimed quickly, Pitch reeling back almost numbly, his hand remaining in the now slightly red spot, his eyes narrowed a bit in confusion as he slowly turned his head back to me. I clenched my fists in my lap and felt something unpleasent well up in my chest. It was strong, it was tight, and it was sad. It was slightly like the feeling that Bunnymund envoked, but different. Very different.

"That's for being a complete idiot."I said, voice shaking against my will. Pitch opened his mouth to say something, but his monologue was long enough. It was my turn now. I leaned forward and wrapped my arms around his neck tightly, squeezing him to me and burying my chin in his shoulder as he stiffened under me. I knew I looked like an idiot. I looked crazy. Not ten minets ago, I would have gladly sent this man into eternal torture.

And now I was hugging him. I hadn't changed. He had. In the blink of an eye, he changed.

"..What's this for?"He asked quietly, as I tried to control my emotional shaking. I squeezed my eyes shut, heart begging for none of this to be a dream. Because it certainly wasn't a nightmare.

"How the hell am I supposed to know? It's heartwarming, just bloody go with it!"I snapped, irritated and embarrased, feeling him shake a bit as he chuckled quietly, two palms pressing into my shoulderblades awkwardly and lightly. Public displays of sibling affection was something he wasn't well-versed in. In fact, I was suprised he was doing this much. To his mercy, I pulled away quickly and shakily stood, reaching a hand down.

Pitch just looked at it for a second, face softening in thought.

"Look at this...after everything I've done?"Pitch asked quietly, looking from the outstreached hand to me. I took him in, and felt a smile spread across my face. Memories that, for once, had no bitter undertones. A bond that was too strong to ever really be broken, between two people who had more than their fair share of nightmares. I squared my shoulders, feeling the eyes of the others on me, his eyes on me. Mistakes. He made them. Everyone made them. That's why everyone can forgive them.

"Always."

He paused, a surprised look crossing his face as I rolled my eyes, reaching down and fourcefully taking his arm in my fist, yanking him unsteadily to his feet and punching him lightly in the chest. After a second, looking down at me uncertainly, something seemed to relax in him. He ruffled my hair and let out a small laugh, that smile on his face sparking something up inside of me. That smile. The one I'd always missed. The one that had been lost over all those years.

"Yeah, yeah, real sweet, but what are we gonna do now?"Jack asked, and I looked over my shoulder to see him leaning nonchalantly on his staff, one hand shoved into his hoodie and an eyebrow raised, tryng to hold back a smirk. To my utter shock, North was the one to step up, hands held out and a...smile on his face. To be honest, I expected skepticizm, anger, confusion, maybe a bit of betrayal. Definitly some yelling. Probably some tears. A mental breakdown or two. I mean, I'd just made up with the man that tried to kill us all not too long ago.

But...they were smiling. Tooth had her hands over her mouth, baby tooth smiling wide and both of them with wide, watery eyes. Sandy had his arms crossed, tapping his foot knowingly. North was full-out beaming, winking. Jack's smile finally broke into a smooth smirk trademarked by him. In fact, the only one not smiling was Bunny, with his arms crossed and a frown on his face, and yet not a hint of anger on his face. Instead there was a softness, a contentness...relief? Maybe. We made eye contact, and I detected the faintest little head-nod.

"Vell, we have big Christmas party to have, no? For succesful present delivary and end of angsty sibling rivalry! I call elves and yetis, have them prepare new room! Es momentus occasion! Who with me?"North excalimed, and it took me a second to understand what he was saying. I gave him a confused look, wondering if he had gone completely insain, or if...

Wait. New room. End of sibling rivalry...? I gasped silently and, slowly, something welled up inside me. Something light. Warm. Wonderful. These were friends. True friends. Because only true friends would welcome a man who tried to take over the world and nearly destroyed all happiness and wonder, hope and fun, back with open arms just because he had made up with me, just because..because he had saved me. Not a second thought. Just trust. A bond.

"No thank you."

Everyone looked behind me, shocked, as I spun around to face a calm-looking Pitch, chin raised and eyes set on North. I shook my head and exclaimed,

"But, Pitch...you said...you aren't really still set on defeating us, are you?" He raised his eyebrows and looked at me, face nonchalant and a small smile tugging at his lips that remained otherwise straight and thin. He tilted his head a bit as he explained,

"Oh, no. You see, while I may have taken a detour of my previous motives, I still have a distaste strong enough for the Guradians to want my skin be slowly peeled off before offering to rejoin them. There is still fear in the world, whether I am there to create it or not. It was around long before me, and it is, as it has always been, my job to keep it under reasonable control. I'm not doing it for the Man in the Moon as much as I am to keep myself alive, and it's best if I do remain solitary. That, dear sister, was my destiny in life..."

He paused, leaning down and taking my face in his hands, looking me in the eye as he said quietly and softly,

"But you, Black As Night, my dear little sister...you have so much more to accomplish. Your destiny is quite different from my own. To be with me is not what you want, holed up in a little cave and controlling fear for the rest of your existance. But with them, as distasteful as they are, I believe is where you belong. I was wrong to try and chance that. I was scared, scared that if I let you out on your own that I would be losing you...

"But I wont be, will I?"He finished playfully, face still calm and still. Part of my heart felt like breaking. I wasn't going to be able to be with him every waking hour like I had been almost my entire life. We would go two completely different directions... But the other part of me was far less afraid. The other part of me knew that, if things played out right, then what Pitch said was true. He wouldn't be losing me. And I wouldn't be losing him.

I smiled at him and shook my head.

"No. Not even if you wanted to."I said, and he flashed a quick smile meant only for my eyes before straightening up and slowly removing his hands from my face, giving the other Guardians a steady look. I turned, all of them giving him an equally unsure gaze.

In a quick flash of shadows, Pitch was suddenly beside Bunnymund, making the Pooka jump in shock as Pitch's face got very, very close to his, glaring into him like the sun as his eyes flickered from Bunny to me and then back again.

"...I'll be watching you...very closely."He threatened, before falling back into the shadows like a drop of ink, dissapearing without a trace, leaving a shaky Bunnymund and a Jack Frost who was barely controlling his laughter. As I looked at them, some sort of peace settled inside me.

A peace quickly broken as a flash of rainbow shot across the sky, my eyes snapping up as I exclaimed,

"North!"

"Manny! Es trying to call us! Quick, to the sleigh!"North shouted, grabbing me and Bunny by our arms and dragging us through the lake and forest, against our wills. The next thirty minuets were a blurr of clouds, Bunny screaming, his nails scratching the paint as he clung on for dear life, Jack laughing, and North shouting something about Manny and whatever message he had to convey.

In a panicked rush, wondering what could possibly have gone wrong enough for Manny to call us to the Pole, we all flooded into the workshop, yetis and elves jumping out of the way, as we all barreled up into the overlook where we could get a better picture of the moon high in the night sky. I was last, running up behind them as they all ran into the overlook.

Which was why I got a face full of fur as they all stopped suddenly, creating a line I couldn't see beyond. Irritated and on-edge, I shouted,

"Hey! What's the big deal? I'm kind of short here, so moving aside would be great, thanks!" Bunny turned to me, and I got suspicious at the sly, happy smirk on his face, eyes lighting up in knowing something clearly exciting. I raised an eyebrow at him, crossing my arms as the others gave me equally-excited looks.

Either the groundhog was expelled as a spirit, or something else of critical nature had just occured. My curiosity got the better of me, and I shoved my way past Bunny to see whatever it was that had made them react like that...

And I stopped dead in my tracks. My eyes widened and I felt my mind turn to absolute mush, wondering if I were really seeing what I thought I was seeing. I couldn't be. Not after...

But there it was. Out of the center of the floor stood a massive, tree-trunk-like, twisted stand with an iridescent crystal connected to the top, a light emitting from it like the moon itself. And above the crystal? A projection. An unmistakable projection. Of a new Guardian. This Guardian was wearing a tanktop, jeans, with an image of a clear shadow spiraling out of their hand and wrapping around them once, wavy hair over one shoulder and a featurless face smiling down, tiny eggs at their feet.

After 900 years of corruption. 9 months of mending broken bonds and attoning for misdeeds. Uncountable years of existance. Two major holidays saved. Two wars fought. An eternity of struggling and repenting.

...

"It's about damn time."I snapped, crossing my arms as the others laughed out behind me, a smile begrudgingly finding its way onto my face as everyone swarmed around me, Tooth barreling into me and crushing me into a hug.

"I knew it! I just knew after all you've done that you would become a Guardian!"She exclaimed, shooting away as Jack flew up to me and held out a hand, smirking lopsidedly at me.

"Congrats. Trust me, though, it's not as great as they make it seem."He mummbled, only to get smacked away by Bunny, who looked down at me with a frown, completely serious. I looked back up at him, gaze falling over the tall Pooka with blue fur and emerald eyes, sizing each other up in a silent moment, all eyes on us.

"So...you're the Guardian of Happiness now, eh?"He asked, and I shurgged.

"Looks like it."

"..So.."He looked away, at the globe, a small look of self-conciousness on his face as his ears bent back slightly, "...Guess ya wont be needin' ta work a' tha' Warren..."He mummbled. I looked up at him for a second, before looking calmly over at the projection of me.

"Probably...oh, wait, look at that,"I said sarcastically and airily, "Those are...are those eggs at my feet? Damn, guess that means I _have _ to work at the Warren." He looked at the projection, then quickly over to me, a surprised look on his face that only served to make me smile and chuckle, punching him in the chest and saying, "Guess you're stuck with me for all of eternity."

"Great. Jus' ma luck."He mummbled, and I lunged for him again, only to be caught by North's massive arm and swung around, yelping, as he bellowed out loudly,

"MUSIC!"

_-Later That Night- Black's p.o.v***_

A golden toothbrush from Tooth. A bag of dreamsand to use whenever I wanted from Sandy. A snowglobe of me and the other guardians having a snowball fight from North. A snowflake that would never melt from Jack.

A coffee maker for Tooth. Pajamas for Sandy. The best alcoholic eggnog in the world for North. A promise to find him a girlfriend for Jack.

I shoved my hands into my pockets, walking up around a red couch, right next to the towering, colorful Christmas tree. The fire was roaring, elves and yetis were estatic, the Guardians celebrating amoungst each other as Christmas songs rang out loudly over the shouts and laughs. Everything was bright. No looming danger. Only happiness and joy, holiday cheer.

And a giant effing bunny that was making my stomach flip and chest tighten in worry. He stood away from the crowd, just looking out with a smile on his face, not noticing me until, thouroughly embarrased, I shoved a finger into his ribs. He jumped and looked down, raising an eyebrow at me. I coughed, wondering how to go about this, fear jumping in me. What if he didn't like it? That was simple, I would beat him with it. Hard.

What if he did? What if he liked it? Then what would I do?...Only I have these problems.

"..Sheila?"Bunny asked, raising an eyebrow and making me stumbled over my words in surprise,

"Oh, I um...well..."I tried to compose myself, looking up at him just as the fire caught his eyes. Damn, he was beautiful... I shook myself, realizing I'd paused again, and took in a deep breath. "It's Christmas. I got you a present."I blurted, and his eyes widened a bit. I scuffed my shoe on the floor absentmindedly as it was his turn to look surprised and flustered.

"Oh, well...ya didn't have ta-"

"Cut that crap...just...hold out your hands and close your eyes, okay?"I interrupted, and he paused a second before quickly closing his eyes and holding out his paws. I took in a deep, steadying breath. Ok. Now or never. I placed my hands over his, a shadow swirrling in the space between them and quickly shooting out, leaving the boomerang in his paws, the decorations painted in with the closest emerald green I could find to match his eyes.

"OK, open them."I muttered, stepping back a bit as he slowly opened his eyes and looked down into his hands. I held my breath, watching, analyzing, heart pounding loudly in my ears. His eyes widened, ears perking up as I quickly explained, "It's the boomerang that broke when..well, you know, and since I kinda owe you some boomerangs I thought...well...that this would be okay.

"Jack taught me how to put it together!"I added quickly, "So it should be good as new...um... I tried to figure out your favorite color. But I couldn't. So I made it the color of your eyes...uh, I mean! Um! That's not what I meant! I...uh..." I hung my head quickly, feeling my face heat up and wanting nothing more than to dissipate, and remembered that I actually could. Just a flick of my wrist and I could dissapere forever and not have to deal with...whatever was about to happen...

"...Hahahaha!"He burst into laughter, and my head snapped up. Well, that wasn't expected. Except he wasn't looking at the boomerang at all. He was looking at me, whiping away a tear as he tried to get his laughter under control, me stiff with worry, chest tight, snapping,

"What's so damn funny?!" He finally calmed down, and smiled.

"Guess ya can blush after all."

My eyes shot wide and I tried to hide my face, but he immediatly followed it with,

"It's amazin', sheila. I'm surprised ya found all a' tha' pieces." I nodded, looking over to see the others too preoccupied with chasing Jack with a mistletoe.

"Anyway, I got ya somethin', too." I froze, eyes wide as my head snapped back to Bunny, who had a suave smile on his face, placing the boomerang carefully into his sling. He looked at me, a hand behind his back, and said smartassly, "Close yer eyes." Begrudgingly, I closed them, feeling a warm paw touch my wrist, sending goosebumps up to my shoulder as he lifted the hand and placed something small and round in it.

"I tried ta figure out exactly what ta get ya, hope ya like it."He said, and I slowly opened my eyes. Every year, excluding the past 900 years, Bunny gave me an egg for Christmas. He did to everyone. They were usually decorated with amazing detail, pictures of multiple things and even portriats. I had never told him, but I had kept every one of them. Even when I was with Pitch, it had kept them, not looked at them, but kept them. They were beautiful. This one was...

"...Sparkly?"I asked, confused. The egg was like a miniature freaking disco-ball, covered in glitter and catching the light, exploding in shine and glitter. It was pretty, but...confusing. "I don't get it-"

"WATCH OUT!"North shouted, and I gasped, jumping as an elf lunged at the egg, snatching it and scrambling away, eyes wide and dilated. The other elves turned and, upon catching the light of the egg, their own eyes grew wide as saucers and their pupils became pin-points, going into a frenzied state as they each lunged, creating a battle over the shiny object.

"What, hey!"I shouted, as yetis scrambled in to break up the fight, only to get dragged into it themselves. Soon, yetis were flinging elves around, knocking over wreaths and decorations. Tooth zoomed in to stop them, Jack following to help, as North picked elves up by the dozens to try and seperate them, Sandy flying around and trying to aim a ball of sleep-sand. It was utter chaos, the shiny egg bobbing in and out of sight, as I stood there, gaping.

"What just happened?!"I exclaimed at the chaos in front of me.

"I had ta distract 'em somehow, sheila."Bunny said smoothly next to me. I was going to turn to him, confused, about to ask what he meant. But the words never met air, dying in my throat.

A strong arm wrapped around me and pulled me to a furry chest. I looked up, shocked, but never got a chance to say anything. To this day, I never knew what I was going to say. Because my words were once again silenced by Bunny.

Furry lips pressed to mine. Soft, tender, without hesitation. A kiss long overdue. I would have frozen if a heat and warmth hadn't exploded within me, the previous bouts of warmth seeming like winter chills compared to the spark that ignited into a flame within me right now, as my mind threw away all rational thought and my heart decided to just stop beating. But it didn't matter. I didn't need it to beat to know it was there. Because, right now, it was so full of something, something I could finally place, that I knew it was still there.

Warm, soft, furry lips against mine, pressing tenderly to mine and making my spine tingle and heart explode. It wasn't weird, like most would think. It was amazing. A small kiss. But more than that. Just as I was about to press back to them, eagerly wanting it to continue despite everything, he pulled away, arm still loose around my waist as we both panted, looking up at eachother. It wasn't like the first time I was looking at him. I felt like I'd known him my whole life. And I had. But it was through different eyes that I saw him now.

He gave a small smile and whispered in a slightly-shaking voice,

"Merry Christmas, sheila." But I wasn't letting him off like that. If he thought that was the last of my present, then he was dead-wrong. People don't just kiss the sister of the Boogeyman and get to just walk away like nothing happened. Especially not this sorry son of a bitch. I looked up at him defiantly and said,

"What if I don't want it?" His eyes widened in shock, eyebrows furrowing as he stuttered,

"Whadaya mean?" I kept my face solid as I explained,

"What if I want to give it back?"

It took him a second, but slowly, he got a mischevious glint in his eye, a smile slipping back onto his face as he said quietly,

"Well, 'suppose I can't stop ya." I reached up and grabbed two fist fulls of soft chest fur, saying solidly,

"You're right. You can't."

And I pulled him down to me again, pressing my mouth to his, dropping down every defense I'd ever held, throwing them all away. I felt his mouth move against mine and I greedily moved with him, soaking up every bit of warmth and memorizing the feel of his unique mouth against my own, my chest so tight I felt like it was going to crack. A slightly rough-feeling tongue moved in, moving against my own as I tasted his unique flavor, if you could call it that. Grass, nature, paint, Bunny. A skilled kiss against my own amature one, letting it this time and this time only take control, dominate the kiss as I tried to copy and learn, all the while pulling myself closer, an arm wrapping around my neck and the other tightening around my lower-back, soft skin brushing my stomach.

If this was what I had been missing, than it made all of those failed attempts that much more irritating. This reaction, almost a chemical-like reaction, from me, was something no one had ever had a chance of getting. No one used to be able to drop my defenses, no one used to be able to make me stumble or stutter or worry or feel confused at odd emotions boiling up inside me. I'd never fallen for anyone nor had I ever expected that I would. I knew what love was, I just never saw myself experiencing it. I had been either too inexperienced or too broken.

But there was a twist in my story. And it's name was Edmund Aster Bunnymund. Somewhere between games of tag and battles, Tai Chi and betrayal, eggs and cookie dough, I fell in love with him. And I wanted this twist to go on forever, relishing, soaking it all in, after all this time, I wanted this to go on. But, like all things, it ended.

"My eyes! My innocent eyes!"I slowly pulled away, reluctantly as I looked over, seeing...quite a sight. All of the elves were either cut or bruised, their clothes ragged as they starred wide-eyes and jaw-dropped at us, the yetis stiff with shock. Jack was laughing, flipping over in the air as Tooth had her hands slammed to her mouth, surpressing 'aww's and 'ohhh's, babytooth shooting right up to me and spinning around Bunny and me until I got dizzy, shooting right back to Tooth as they began to squeal loudly to each other. North had his arms crossed, smiling and eyes tearing up, making my face heat up once more.

Sandy looked at me and smiled, a series of images flashing over his head towards Bunny and me. I got the message: It's about damn time. Bunny laughed, never releasing me, and said,

"It woulda' happened soona' had ya gumbies not interrupted every bloody time!" I smiled shyly, scratching the back of my head, the other hand still laced in Bunny's fur.

"Bunny and Blaack sittin' in the Warren! K-I-S-S-I-N-" I cut off Jack by shooting a shadow at Tooth, wrapping around her and sending her shooting up to where the winter spirit was flying. I must have had terrific aim, because the second the two made contact, their lips met in a shocked and embarrased kiss.

"What was that, Frostbite?"I asked, both Guradian's eyes flying wide open as I relinquished the shadows, Tooth and Jack shooting away from eachother and blushing, hands slapped over their mouths. I laughed, Bunny's laugh dwarfing mine and North's dwarfing his, as Jack immediatly began to conjure up a snowball.

"Don't ya dare-!"Bunny shouted, as Jack immediatly nailed him in the face. I jumped away as Bunny lunged for Jack, me in close pursuite, both of us trying to jump and catch him, only to miss and land in a heap on the floor, with Bunny on top of me. Before he could do anything, I tackled him and gave him a quick, almost not-there peck on the lips. He looked at me, surprised, ears flat against his skull. I laughed, flicking his nose, and saying,

"I love you, you giant kangaroo." He gave a mischevious smile back and messed up my hair, muttering quietly,

"I love ya, too, ya little anklebita'."

"Oh! It's too cute!"Tooth exclaimed, hugging onto Jack, who fell back to the ground and got a layer of frost over his face at the contact, smiling weakly back and hugging her, babytooth zipping around in excitement. North boomed with laughter, grabbing an unsuspecting Sandy and giving him a bear-hug, exclaiming,

"Ve are family again! Es so warming of de heart! Hug me Sandy!"

I laughed, looking up through the hole in the ceiling while I did, up at Manny who shone brightly down upon us. _'Was this what you had planned for us, Manny? Because, if it is...you're lucky I can't reach up that far to kick your ass for not warning me.'_ I thought, and then looked back at my friends. North was beginning to dance with Sandy, Jack was flying around with Tooth and making it snow over all of us, babytooth zipping around, Bunny shouting at Jack to stop.

I used to wonder why it had taken so little for the Guardians to make me stop hating them. Why I immediatly ached for their friendship. Why I went against everything I had known to go back to them. To their family. But now I know. Because, above all, no matter what we go through, if children believe in us, and if we believe in each other, then there's one thing that's for certain, one thing that will exist between us no matter how hard things get, no matter what holiday is more important, how many eggs we paint, teeth we collect, children believe in us, dreams we create, mistakes we make. There will always be Hope. There will always be Memories. There will always be Fun. There will always be Wonder. There will always be Dreams.

There will always be Happiness.

I'll make damn sure of it.


	12. Epilogue soon

_Per request, there will be an epilogue posted soon. This will be the final installment, but if you enjoy my work as much as I enjoy all of you, there will be another ROTG story posted my me in the near future. You aren't obligated to read it or anything, but your reviews did make me smile and laugh until I fell over! If you have any requests or ideas that you would like to share I will gladly listen. Thank you again, with all my heart. I love you all._


	13. Epilogue

_The Epilogue~_

_-At the Warren- Black's p.o.v****_

"We're gonna be late. Again."I grumbled, tapping my foot as I leaned against a tree, complaining to no one as the little eggletts ran clumsily around me. The ones out now were premature, about half the size of the normal eggs and the ones I would help paint later on in the year, once more eggs began to pop out. One of them hopped on my foot excitedly, and I looked down, a smile immediatly finding its way onto my face. Something about the little thing was strikingly familiar, and I quickly leaned down, scooping up the tiny little thing and cradling it in my hands.

"Hey there, little guy. Aren't you the one I'm supposed to paint first?"I asked, and it jumped up high enough for me to immediatly guess that my assumption was correct. I laughed at its enthusiasm and nuzzled it with my nose affectionatly, winking at it and saying, "I think, after I decorate you, I'll keep you. Would you like that, little guy?" It did what appeared to be an irish jig, its legs moving sporattically around it as it hopped up and down like a chihuahua on meth.

I laughed and pet it lightly with my free hand, saying calmly,

"I like you, little guy."

"Tha' more than I eva' get." I jumped at the voice, accompanied with two furry arms wrapping around my waist and a cold, wet nose on the nape of my neck. I immediatly spun around and looked up in irriatition at a large, blue Pooka, giving me a smile cocky enough to make the shadows around me kick up in mild anger.

"You're late."Was all I had to say, Bunnymund rolling his eyes and retorting defensively,

"Not my fault, love. One a yer bloody nightmares tried ta skin me!" I couldn't help the laugh that burst out of me, imagining Bunny of all people running around, screaming in fright from something that couldn't even hurt him. He gave me a steady glare, but I smiled up at him, pressing closer to his torso and feeling the downy fur against my bare lower-stomach. His face relaxed a bit, and a small, lopsided smile found its way onto his face.

It had been 2 months, 2 whole months since that Christmas that changed everything, and I still wasn't used to that feeling this giant bunny gave me when he looked me in the eye, giving me a full, beautiful view of his emerald eyes and feeling his strong, protective limbs wrapping around me, a feeling that I was almost damn positive would never leave me. And I could live with that.

"I sent it to go get you, we were supposed to be at North's an hour ago."I scolded, and instead of rolling his eyes or making up an excuse, he did the next best thing. Without warning, he leaned down quickly and pressed his furry lips to mine, a spark going down my chest as I slowly closed my eyes, hating that he thought he could just shut me up with this. Hating that it was true.

Just as he was about to push the kiss deeper, a hard smack on the bottom of our chins pulled us out of it quickly, looking down to see the little egg hopping up and down defensively and irately. Bunny growled deep in his chest, but I smirked.

"He's right, we need to go. Now."I pulled back and turned, leaving a grumpy Bunny behind me crossing his arms. After a few steps, when I didn't hear him following, I called back,

"I'll just tell North you couldn't come. I'm sure you can make it up to him next Christmas. You know, making toys, decorating the tree, making...cookies." I smirked at the end. I was still finding bits of cookie dough in his pelt after the little 'blender' incident last year. Almost immediatly, the sound of pounding feet came up behind me and I was uncerimoniously swooped up bridal-style, calling out in frustration as we continued to barrel towards a tunnel.

"Bunny, so help me if you don't put me down right now I am getting a greyhound!"I shouted, hearing Bunny chuckle. That's cute. He thinks I wont resort to life-threatening tactics.

"Ya said we were late, sheila! I'm just gettin' us there!"He called down as we rocketed through the tunnel that led directly to North's workshop. I rolled my eyes and shouted up,

"You could put me down! I'm perfectly capable of running, kangaroo!"

"Bunny! And really? Cuz last time I checked, ya don't wanna race a bunny!"

"That might be true. But you're more of a...groundhog, right?"I teased, and he screeched to a hault. I was let go too quickly for me to react, feeling a paint shoot up my tailbone as I cringed. "Oi!"I shouted, and glared up at Bunny, who had his face less than an inch from mine. If looks could kill, I'd be sliced up and put in a freezer by now. I glared right back, irritated and in some annoying pain.

"Don't ya eva' compare me ta that rat."

"What rat? You mean...Groundhog?"

"Ya know bloody well who I meant!"

"With that accent, who knows?"

"But...it...grah!"

"I'm sorry, is 'Grah' Aussi slang for 'sorry for dumping you on your arse'?!"

"Nope, it's slang fer 'I'm about ta outrace ya so bad you'll be eating ma dus- Hey!"

I cut him off, spinning around and zipping down the tunnel on a cloud of shadows, the wind whipping my hair back as loud thumps sounded behind me, Bunny moving at a breakneck pace. I swirrled a shadow around the little egg to keep it safe in case there was some impact and sent it ahead of me, seeing the opening less than three feet away.

Before I could reach and arm out to it, I felt a massive impact on my back, knocking me off the cloud and sending us barreling out of the exit of the tunnel and into a brightly-lit workshop. We rolled a few times, knocking over elves and through the legs of a yeti that shouted out in surprise.

"I'll get you for that, you freakin' rabbit!"

"Not as bad as I'll get ya, sheila!"

"Ah, if it isn't the happy couple?"A voice broke through our tussle, and I stopped, looking up as Jack smiled down at us from his perch on the railing, staff across his knees and arms folded loosely on top of it, resting his chin on top of them and chuckling. I rolled my eyes and poked Bunny's chest, who was laying in my lap with his arms right up against mine.

"He started it."

"Oi, I did no-"

"Bunny! Black! So happy to see two of you!"North boomed, picking me up by my elbow and lifting me easily into the air, Bunny pulled up by the scruff of his neck. The large Guardian of Wonder planted a massive kiss on both of our cheeks, Bunny's eyes going wide and body stiff, eye twitching in disturbance. I surpressed a laugh as North finally put us down, Sandy floating over to us and waving hi.

"Hey there, Sandy."I smiled, patting his head and making him shake it out, grains of sand falling below him and knocking out a few elves.

"Oh! Hi guys! When did you get here?! I'm so happy to see you two! It's been weeks! How have you been, flossing I hope!"Tooth's voice reached us before she did, suddenly zipping up between us and shooting from one of us to the other as she asked her questions, finally settling on prying open my mouth and looking at my teeth. My eyes widened, not exactly comftorble with sudden dental checks.

"Toof!"I mummbled out, and she immediatly shot back, rubbing her arm and chuckling nervously.

"Sorry! I just love your teeth! Oh, speaking of, where's Jack?"She pipped up, the frost spirit floating up behind her and saying smoothly,

"Right here, Tooth. Showed up early." She quickly flushed red before spinning around to laugh with Jack, something inside of me content with victory. Since I'd 'helped' them out last Christmas, their romance was winding up almost as awkwardly as mine had with Bunny. If I had it my way, it would be a hell of a lot more awkward for what they had done, but Bunny was trying his best to keep me in line.

"So, when are we gonna start this meeting, North?"I asked, turning to the jovial Guardian in question. He looked down at me with a massive grin, arms wide open, as he exclaimed,

"Right after delicious cinnamon roles are made!" Bunny loudly groaned, but the twinkle in the fatherly Guardian's eye was too much to resist. I sighed and gave his belly a pat as I passed him, saying,

"Just two, you have to actually fit down the chimneys this year."

"Psh! I am fit as...as...Bunny!"

"What was that mate?!"

_-2 hours later-_

Jack was drawing frost designs on the ceiling. Tooth was trying to stay interested, but kept nodding off, only to shock herself away with Babytooth floating down to the table. Sandy was sleeping. Bunny was polishing a boomerang, which I quickly elbowed him for, and I was debating whether I should have stayed in the cave of eternal darkness instead of sitting here and listening to North ramble on about subject I could honestly care less about.

I was just about to nod off myself, when a massive thud slammed onto the table and I jolted awake, North beaming at us and exclaiming,

"Very well! Seems all es in order, I believe is now time for hot coco and chitty chatty, no? Yes!" I let out a massive sigh, glad to be freed from this nightmare. And coming from me, that's a big deal. Everyone stood to leave, prepared to sit around the fireplace where we usually sat after meetings, excited about the hot coco and company. I stood up, reaching a hand down to pick Bunny up, but he stood on his own and pulled me to him with one arm, giving me a quick peck on the forehead that had my face turning all different shades of grey(which I had learned it could do, all thanks to this jackass), not used to public displays of affection.

"I'll be right there, love. Gotta talk ta North 'bout somethin' real quick."He mummbled into my hair, and I was far too flustered to argue, feeling the eyes of our friends on us. I nodded and he chuckled, the sorry bastard probably knowing that I was uncomftorble, and let me go. I turned, swacking Jack from his perch on the staff for making kiss-faces at me, and quickly exited through the doors.

"I just think it's sooo cute!"Tooth exclaimed, floating up next to me as I descended the stairs to the fireplace below, the workshop cleared out for today and yetis and elves scattered around. I plopped down on the couch and sighed,

"Yeah, you don't have to live with him." Tooth ignored me, her eyes wide and dreamy as she slowly floated down in front of me, arms crossed in the air and resting her chin on them, babytooth zipping around Jack as he descended, Sandy yawning and streaching as he nestled himself by the fire.

"I mean, you two were just sooo cute before the whole Pitch buisiness, inseperable! I had a feeling something was going on even way back then! And now, after everything you two have been through, it's just...romantic."She sighed, and Jack and I rolled our eyes in unison.

"As...lovely, as it is to hear about my sister's love-life,"I gasped, jumping at the familiar voice and spinning around to see Pitch appear in a fluster of shadows from the window, looking more than uncomftorble as Tooth yelped and dropped to the ground with Jack, Sandy looking up in timid interest. "May I request the subject change?"He finished, as I got to my feet and smiled, excitement filling me as I gazed at the brother I hadn't seen in two months.

"Pitch! What are you doing here?"I asked, and his features gently softened a bit as he moved towards me, brushing a loose strand of hair from my face and placing a quick kiss on my head before musing,

"I'd like to ask you lot that. I was...summoned here." He sounded like the idea of being 'summoned' anywhere was at the top of his list of things he would rather be banished than do. I raised an eyebrow, tilting my head to the side a bit as I said,

"I didn't do it. Tooth?" She shook her head, slowly relaxing after remembering that Pitch wasn't...exactly.._against _ us.

"Jack?"Tooth asked, but he held his hands up.

"Sorry, I don't go around summoning dark entities formely focused on destroying the world. No offense."

"None taken."Pitch deadpanned.

"Sandy?"I asked, but the the little golden man was already sleeping again. Figures. I sighed and shook my head, trying to figure out who could have called Pitch here during a down-season, with no noticable threat arising.

"Actually, it was me." I spun around, Bunny walking up behind me with a careful, serious look on his face. I raised an eyebrow, looking from him to Pitch, both giving sizable glares to the other, with..something else. An underlying knowing that I was missing out on. After a minuet or so, I looked to North, who was trying and failing to conceal a beaming smile as he looked up at the globe. Okay, there was something going on here. And I did not like it.

"Okay, what the hell?"I snapped, and Bunny seemed to snap back to reality.

"I got somethin' I gotta talk to ya 'bout."Bunny said, still keeping an eye on Pitch.

"Talk about what? What's with all the talking? I don't like this, Bunny!"I warned, but before he could coax me out of my flustered, confused state, Pitch sighed. I saw his face fall a bit, keeping a steady glare focused on Bunny, eyes flicking to me for just a moment before back to the large Pooka.

"I feared as much...come then, let's get this over with."He mused as if he'd rather do anything in the world than this...whatever it was. Bunny nodded and walked solemly over to Pitch, the two turning and walking down a small hall next to the fireplace. I stood there, face fallen, frowning with an irritation growing inside of me. Bunny was up to something, I just felt it.

For the past few days he had been acting...strange. Like he was hiding something, always jumping up whenever I walked up behind him in the small little burrow we lived in, away from the little eggletts. I'd even sent a nightmare to see if he was up to something, only to have him cut it down and give me a scolding about...well..something. I'd stopped listening halfway through. That aside, I did not like surprises, not even from Aster, and something about all of this just reeked of a surprise.

"Who wants to start taking bets on who comes out alive?"Jack asked, trying to lighten the mood. I shot a fist out and immediatly knocked him to the floor, Tooth flying over to tend to him as I sighed and spun to the most-likely person to know what Bunny was hiding. North was still looking up at Manny, eyes twinkling with something I couldn't place, a giddy look on his rosy face.

I slowly walked up to him, giving him a light hit on the gut. He seemed to snap out of some sort of daze, looking down at me with surprise, before his face got even giddy-ier. I crossed my arms and demanded,

"North."

"Hm?"

"North, tell me."

"Vat? Tell you bedtime story! I know many! All in Russian, but that ok, you vill get gist-"

"You know exactly what I'm talking about,"I interrupted him, a nervous prick up my spine from having the two most important men in the world to me in a hallway, probably at eachothers' throats, "What's Bunny up to?"

"He does seem to acting odd,"Tooth cut it, a finger on her chin, "Maybe he's giving you an anniversary present!" I rolled my eyes and muttered,

"This month doesn't even have 31 days..."

"Nah, Bunny isn't that thoughtful."Jack mused, sitting on the back of the couch with his feet on the cusions, Tooth fluttering over to sit near him. I was getting frustrated, knowing North was hiding something and willing to pry it out of him, with fource if necissairy. I gave North a look telling him just that, but he continued to give me that silent grin.

Suddenly, a blob of black shadows formed next to him, and soon Pitch materialized. I read his face for two things: Injuries(and if so, Bunny was going to be in a world of hurt, if he wasn't dead already), and any sign of what Bunny was planning. Instead, what I got was...a look of sadness. Worry gripped my heart immediatly, seeing Pitch reach a hand forward and brushing away the same lock of stubborn hair. The look on his face was almost similar to the one he had given me the last time we had spoken.

Bitter. Sad. But, this time, it almost seemed like...like he was trying to seem under control, almost happy. He leaned in, and I asked quietly,

"Pitch? What's wrong?" His eyes narrowed a bit, my mind reeling, trying to figure out why he would look like this, his forehead slightly creased, mouth fourcing itself out of a frown and into a line. He looked over my face, as if trying to memorize it, his thumb brushing my temple. It was silent, and he looked me in the eye, his own identical, and for a moment it almost seemed as if he were going to say something...

But he bit it back, looking down for a moment before flickering his eyes back at me, no smile on his face, but the crease gone from his forehead, eyes still darkened with something like sadness.

"...I do, against popular opinion, love you, my dear little sister."He said, and my eyes widened a bit, eyebrows furrowing.

"Pitch?"I asked, but he cut me off, taking his hand away and pointing behind me.

"I believe this large rodent would like to have a word with you."He mused calmly, and I slowly turned, seeing Bunny standing there and giving Pitch a quick glare before focusing back on me. He seemed...different. Fidgety but at the same time calm. As if he were about to do something he'd rehersed but was still nervous about. One foot absentmindedly scuffed the ground, one hand tapping a pouch in his sling that held his boomerangs, one of which my Christmas present to him, his ears slightly back.

"Bunny, you better damn well tell me what's going on or so help me I'll really _will _ get a greyhound. A big one."I warned, hearing snickers from Jack and even a stifled, almost non-existant one from Pitch. Bunny seemed to relax a bit, reaching out one paw. I looked at it curiously, then timidly took it, Bunny pulling me a bit closer until I could feel his body heat. I gave him a curious glare as he cleared his throat, and I swear I almost saw a tinge of red on his cheek fur.

"Sheila...We've known each otha' for hundreds of years. An' every day, without relenting, you've driven me absolutely bat-shit crazy. I've neva' met someone I found more irritating than Frostbite ova' there,"Jack called out in insult, but Bunny ignored him, "You grind ma last nerve. There ain't a day that goes by without a fight, without death-threats, insults, and me askin' Manny why the bloody hell I had ta meet ya in the first place."

"Bunny, you're about three words away from becoming a fur coat."I threatened harshly, but he shook his head.

"Let me finish,"He silenced, my anger boiling in my veins, "As I was sayin': ye have no respect fer yer elders. You're the worst bloody Tai Chi student I've eva' laid eye on. Ye know exactly how ta push ma buttons an' ya kick me when we're sleepin'."

"Wait, what was that?"Pitch asked with an edge of anger, Bunny continuing quickly,

"Yer the most contraversal Guardain Manny's eva' choosen. Ye control bloody nightmares." He took in a deep breath, leaning over me a bit more,

"Yer the most irritatin', self-righteous, angsty, tempermental, strong, terrible, scary, irresponsible, headstrong, insultin', sharp-tongued, knuckle-headed..." He listed off, and then paused for a moment. His eyes looked right into mine, taking in another breath before saying quietly, "Beautiful, amazin', funny, witty, entertainin', brave, selfless, wild, bright girl I've eva' met in my entire existance, and eva' since the day I first saw ya I knew somethin' was different. Ya were...ya were the twist in my story, mate.

"If I hadn't met ya I'd be one miserable sonofabitch. Even when ya weren't with me, yer memory made me...feel. I'd neva' given anotha' person this much a me. I've neva found someone who I could bloody stand fer more than five minuets...but when ya left, those 900 years were the longest years o' my life. I wanted ta hate ya, mate. I wanted ta have nothin' ta do with ya. I wanted to move on an' dismiss ya from my life...

"But that was impossible. I couldn't get rid o' ya, no matta' how hard I tried. Easta', paintin', Christmas, Tai Chi, nothin' could get ya out a my mind. And maybe it's my centa', but I always had hope that ya would come back and tha'..maybe we could be a family again. I didn't give up, not even when things got dark. An' ya did come back, and eventually I saw the sheila I'd known too long ago...

"Ya come in here like a damn storm an' shake everythin' up, turn my bloody life upside down! An' yet everythin' seemed normal. Because it was. 900 years of tryin' ta hate ya, an' then ya come right on in an' screw it all up. 900 years without ya...an' I neva wanta do tha' again..." He stopped, reaching his hand slowly into the small pouch and closing his hand around something, pulling it out and sheilding it from my sight with his large hand.

I was confused, slightly insulted, and felt a squeezing in my chest that meant something very bad or something very, very good. I couldn't possible contemplate what he was doing, or why he was saying all of this, or why North was smiling behind me, or why Pitch had looked so sad. I didn't understand.

And then he knelt on one knee.

My heart pounded in my ears. Time stopped as I felt my entire body freeze up, eyes going wide and a searing heat licking up my chest, shaking from utter shock. I felt like the entire room was spinning, blood pounding, jaw locked, stomach flipping in the most violent lurch I'd ever felt. I felt dizzy, like I was about to fall over, like nothing was stable and moving and..and..and..

His emerald eyes met mine, and everything else stopped. The room was still. Not a sound, just the crackling of the fireplace and my breathing. Just his eyes, and memories playing across my mind of eggs, cookie dough, fights, and the Warren. The Guardians. Us. And suddenly, I felt everything calm and wait, hushing.

Bunny's ears folded against his head as he mummbled, slightly self-concious,

"I..uh...saw mortals do this...but uh...I'm not..."He cleared his throat and, finally, asked, "I bloody love ya, sheila...

"Will ya marry me?"

Eternity is a long time to commit your heart to someone. Everyday until the end of time. Dedicated to one person. Humans couldn't even dream of it. Mortals had never accomplished such a feat. Luckily, Bunny and I were neither human nor mortal.

"...Stand up, you idiot."I said lightly, and he gave me a surprised look, me rolling my eyes and grabbing his chest fur, pulling him to his feet and getting right in his face. "Edmund Aster Bunnymund, I've known you for over 900 years. I've never been quite sure of anything around you, namely the feelings I got around you and your species." He opened his mouth to defend himself, but I shut him up.

"In fact, this might be the only thing I've ever been really, 100% positive about in the uncountable years I've known you...I love you." He paused, ears flush against his skull, looking at me with hopeful, surprised eyes.

"So..ya will?"

I smacked him upside the head and exclaimed,

"Of course I will, ya big idiot!"

"Eeeeek!"Tooth exclaimed, wriggling on the couch and pulling Jack into a bone-crushing hug, Jack stuck between laughing until tears came to his eyes and blushing. Bunny cleared his throat and held my hand up, sliding a completely silver band onto my ring finger. The crystal was shaped like an egg. I chuckled and leaned up, capturing his lips in a lingering kiss, his arms wrapping around me immediatly and pressing me to him until Jack began to make gagging sounds.

I pulled away and nodded my head his way, making him jump up and dodge a shadow. Tooth, who apprently could no longer contain herself, shot forward and tackled me to the ground, then lifted me up and spun around, my air in short supply until Sandy managed to pry her iron-like grip off. The golden man gave me a small hug, which I returned quickly before he shot over to Bunny and flashed a series of images, depicting him being Bunny's best man.

Bunny laughed and nodded, Sandy self-satisfied and floating away. Jack flew between us and touched the floor, smiling brightly and patting out shoulders.

"Hey, I know I can kid around a little-"

"A little?"Bunny asked, an eyebrow raised, but Jack continued,

"But, even though that was the most drawn-out marriage proposal I've ever seen, I'm happy." I felt a smile melt onto my face and I nudged Jack, who nudged me back, leaving frost on my arm as he flew to go fan an almost-fainting Tooth.

And then the water works began. By no one but North. A massive whail broke out and I turned around, seeing North blowing his nose into a hankie and crying louder than any baby I'd ever seen, a yeti standing at attention next to him with a box of Kleenex that was dwindling quickly.

"Es sad! But b-beautiful! My little ones all grown up and get married! Whaaa!"He sobbed, reaching a hand out for Pitch's shoulder. He side stepped quickly.

"Don't touch me."

North, though, was not one to be denied a nice, rib-cracking hug, and quickly wrapped his arms around Pitch, giving him a huge bear-hug as the King of Nightmares struggled, face shocked and appauled as North's tears got onto his robe.

"Unhand me! This instant! Now!"He shouted, but wasn't released from the embrace, my hand flying to my mouth as I tried to not burst out into hysterical laughter. I waited a few moments, letting North assault Pitch's space-bubble, before walking up and running a hand down North's arm.

"North. Sweetie. You're crushing my big brother." With my calm words, he released Pitch in favor for the poor Kleenex yeti, sobbing into the startled creature's fur. Pitch quickly straightend his clothing and shook his head, sending an unseen glare towards North before turning to me, face softening a bit.

We stood there for a second, looking at each other. Everything that we needed to say had already been said, everything already done. The only thing left to do was the obvious cliche. I held out my arms and said,

"C'mon, let's get this over with." Pitch gazed at me for a moment, before leaning down and pulling me into a surprisingly tight hug. I was given the familiar scent of obsidian, water, ash, and night that Pitch carried with him, wrapping my arms around his neck as he pulled me to him quickly. I couldn't remember the last time Pitch and I had hugged. It seemed far too long overdue.

"You know,"I whispered, so that only he could hear, "This still doesn't mean you lose me." I felt him give a dark, quiet chuckle, before he whispered,

"Oh, I'm well aware. Or else I wouldn't have given him my consent and instead sent him into an abyss of fear, the likes of which he could never return from."

"I love you, big brother."

"...I love you, too."He said, pulling away a bit and kissing my forehead.

"Wait, why does Sandy get to be the best man?!"Jack whined, me turning and seeing him pulling on Bunny's arm. Bunny tried to get him off, but the little winter spirit remained. The little egg from before made its appearence, hopping on Bunny's foot until he looked down, clearly distraught over the anger from the little egglett. It wanted to be best man, too. How cute.

I saw Bunny struggling for words, but I decided to help him out just this once.

"You can all be the best man."I offered, and North gasped, me turning to see his eyes wide and watery.

"Really?"He asked in a comically hopeful voice, followed by another massive flood of tears and a hug from which Pitch tried and failed to escape, North grabbing his robe and pulling him in again.

"Release me you buffoon! I will give you fears you never thought possible! Let go!"He screamed, as I laughed and turned, seeing Tooth and Sandy already talking about plans while Jack was talking non-stop in Bunny's ear about...well...everything. It was utter chaos, and I felt like I deserved a little break.

I slammed my foot on the ground, shadows shooting out quickly and grabbing everyone's attention, looking at me as I sighed.

"Oi, there's cinnamon roles in the kitchen." Screw their friends getting married. There were doughy, frosting-covered treats in the kitchen. Everyone shot towards the kitchen, Pitch still struggling in North's grasp as they swarmed up the stairs. I felt two, strong arms wrap around me, pressing into my back and nuzzling my neck, sending a shiver up my spine. I turned and smiled, Bunny's bright eyes gleaming right back at me.

"So, when do you want to tell Sophie and Jamie?"I asked. He chuckled and looked up at the kitchen as a massive crash sounded.

"Afta' these lot? About four years afta' it happens."He mused, only half-joking. I rolled my eyes and kissed his nose, chuckling as it twitched.

"I love you, Kangaroo."

"Love ya too, ankle bita'."

"What was that?"

"Ya hear me, sheila!"

"For all you know, I could be older than you!"

"Sure look like it!"

"Excuse-! What...Oh, you're going to regret that!"

"I'd like ta see ya try! What...what's that shadow...Crikey!"

"Say sorry!"

"I love ya, sheila."

"Not sorry, but I'll take it."

"..Ankle bita."

"Kangaroo." Suddenly, something hard, cold, and fast exploded on the sides of our faces.

"FROSTBITE!"


End file.
